GLENVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Glenville’s town supervisor is trying to get to the bottom of what caused the presence of PFOA in the town’s water supply. He’s also trying to access funds from a class action lawsuit against manufacturers that used the chemical.

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PFOA is a type of PFAS which are a group of chemicals used in a variety of commercial products for their temperature resistant and non-stick qualities.

Supervisor Chris Koetzle says — very cautiously — that he suspects firefighting foam used to douse jet fuel flames at Stratton Air National Guard base could be the culprit behind minute amounts of PFOA in Glenville’s water. Koetzle says that the chemical also was used at a Navy Base at Glenville Business and Technology Park which closed up shop in the 60s. 

“I’m not pointing the finger at anybody, but I do know that the federal government has admitted that PF always have been used on an airbase here” said Koetzle

Accordingly, Koetzle says the Schenectady County town  is trying to access funds from a $1.2 Billion settlement against 3M and Dupont who manufactured the suspected firefighter foam which contains the chemicals. 

Koetzle says the level of PFOA in Glenville’s water  is 2 parts per trillion, well below the state Department of Energy & Conservation concern level of 10 parts per trillion. Essentially, a water droplet in 10 Olympic sized swimming pools. Still, the town supervisor says a little of a bad thing is not a good thing.

“We’re well below DEC limits. But that said, nobody wants that in their water. And that’s why we’ve joined this class action suit to get as much in as we can and resources to try to put a filtration system in place that will take the PFOA’S out all together” said Koetzle.

Eric Durr of Stratton Air National Guard base told NEWS10 that the chemical is now only used for emergencies such as a plane crash.

The supervisor says the town will invest 5 1/2 million dollars in its water plant, but its first priority is purchasing an air filtration system which will remove the chemical from his water supply.