The western Prince Edward Island community of Slemon Park has issued notices to some 700 residents about PFAS levels in water that exceed Health Canada’s objective value guideline, according to a report by The Globe and Mail.
The community is owned by Slemon Park Corporation, part of a provincial Crown agency that oversees the site, which is also a business park that hosts aerospace, manufacturing, and public safety training organizations, after the local air force base closed in 1989.
Recent provincial testing of Slemon Park’s three wells found PFAS water totals of 45.5 ng/L, 55.4 ng/L and 58.2 ng/L, respectively, according to data obtained by The Globe and Mail reporting team.
Those testing results exceed Health Canada’s 30 ng/L threshold for drinking water that now covers 25 types of PFAS. The objective value threshold is non-enforceable.
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Slemon Park’s owners have also indicated in early February letters to residents that they will supply bottled water, filtration pitchers, or under-sink filters.
Provincial officials have been quick to note that the above-objective PFAS levels trigger a certain level of treatment, not a health objective.
Health Canada notes that only a small number of PFAS are part of ongoing human biomonitoring surveys both in Canada and internationally. Based on available information, however, there is evidence that exposure to certain PFAS has the potential to affect multiple systems and organs, depending on the potency and pathway into the body.
The Slemon Park Corporation owned by P.E.I. was created in 1992 after the closure of Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Summerside in 1989.
