Groton Board of Health Defers PFAS Well Policy, Approves Septic Variance and New Sampler

GROTON -- July 20, 2026, Groton Board of Health defers PFAS irrigation-well policy as free municipal hookup offer draws homeowner resistance. The board voted unanimously to continue until August 17 a contested question over whether property owners whose wells exceed 4 parts per trillion in PFAS must decommission those wells as a condition of accepting free connections to the Groton Water Department's expanding main, which is being awarded its second construction phase this week to serve approximately 76 contaminated properties near Groton-Dunstable Regional High School. Tyler Schmidt of Apex Companies and Water Superintendent Dan Stone King told the board that most homeowners they have contacted will decline the free service rather than lose irrigation access, with Stone King noting residents "expressed how much it would cost them if they were to pay for town water to irrigate." The board also unanimously approved a septic repair variance for 716 Martins Pond Road, a constrained lot between Martins Pond and a roadway where the proposed system will sit 56 feet from a wetland, and approved Hansen's Water Filtration Inc. as a new approved water-quality sampler. A public information session on the water main extension is set for August 6 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.