Summary of Introducing: Safe to Drink

Overview of Introducing: Safe to Drink (NHPR)

This is episode 1 (titled "You Didn't Know About This?") of Safe to Drink, a New Hampshire Public Radio Document Team series reported by Mara Hoplamazian (with Jason Moon). The episode investigates how residents in southern New Hampshire discovered that their drinking water was contaminated with PFOA — a type of PFAS or “forever chemical” — and the confusion, fear and community activism that followed. It traces individual experiences (a family suddenly relying on pallets of bottled water), a tense 2016 town meeting in Merrimack, and how industry, regulators and science failed to provide clear answers.

Episode 1 — Summary

• The episode opens with Ben Pierce (Londonderry) finding ~2,700 gallons of bottled water delivered to his driveway — the first concrete sign his household water was unsafe to drink.
• Ben’s family and many neighbors had to stop using tap water for drinking and cooking; they relied on bottled water and special precautions for children.
• The story then goes back to March 2016 in Merrimack, where state officials announced PFOA had been detected in the public water supply. Officials could not definitively say what levels were safe and offered bottled water to households above their interim advisory.
• St. Gobain (the factory that detected PFOA in town taps) was identified as a likely source; the company acknowledged PFOA use but suggested other sources (e.g., landfill) could be involved.
• Local residents—led by concerned townspeople like Lorene and Wendy—pushed back against official messaging, demanded testing, and began organizing. Many private wells tested much higher than public wells.
• The episode frames the contamination as a complex, slow-moving crisis: scientific uncertainty, shifting regulatory guidance, bioaccumulation of PFAS, and the long-term personal and economic consequences for affected families.

Key takeaways

• PFAS/PFOA are persistent, man-made chemicals found widely in the environment and consumer products; they can bioaccumulate (hence “forever chemicals”).
• Regulatory guidance for PFOA in drinking water was inconsistent and changing in 2016 (examples: EPA guidance shifted from 400 ppt to 70 ppt; Vermont used 20 ppt).
• Even low measured parts-per-trillion concentrations are meaningful because of accumulation over time and lifetime exposure uncertainty.
• Officials often lacked straightforward answers about health effects; studies are ongoing and sometimes contradictory, leaving affected residents in a prolonged state of uncertainty.
• Community activism—often driven by local residents, many women—became a central force in demanding accountability and testing.
• The contamination’s impacts are long-lasting: health worries, household expense (bottled water, filters), potential property value effects, and social strain.

Notable quotes / moments

• “The long-term health effects are really unclear.” — Dr. Ben Chan, NH Division of Public Health Services.
• “I don’t know if I killed my husband.” — A Merrimack resident grieving her husband’s prostate cancer and wondering about the water she provided him.
• The visceral image of a pallet of bottled water left on a family’s driveway as the day that "changed everything."

Science & regulatory context (concise)

• Chemical: PFOA (a PFAS compound); used in manufacturing (e.g., Teflon, coated fabrics).
• Measurement: parts per trillion (ppt). One ppt is extremely small (often compared to a drop in thousands of swimming pools), but PFAS persistence and bioaccumulation raise concern.
• Regulation (2016 context): No federal enforceable limit for PFOA; EPA interim guidance moved from 400 ppt to 70 ppt; states had varying advisory levels (e.g., Vermont 20 ppt). This produced confusion for residents and officials.

Community response & consequences

• Public water: some wells shut down; others remained online at lower measured levels as officials said most users were still “safe” to drink.
• Private wells: some tested far higher (examples given: 190, 360, 820 ppt), triggering bottled water provision and private filtration costs.
• Activism: neighborhood organizing, town meetings, public pressure on local councils and state agencies; advocacy largely grassroots and sustained.
• Personal impacts: lifestyle changes (no tap water for drinking/cooking/teeth brushing), recurring expenses, distrust of authorities, worry about long-term health and property impacts.

What to expect from the rest of the series (teasers from episode)

• Further investigation into sources and pathways of contamination (past incidents and parallels to other communities).
• Scrutiny of corporate and government responsibility and potential cover-ups or failures.
• Personal stories of health effects, the limits of science, and how families cope with uncertain exposure.
• Examination of long-term consequences and possible solutions or remediation.

Actionable next steps & resources mentioned

• Follow Safe to Drink wherever you get podcasts to hear subsequent episodes.
• Visit the series page: nhpr.org/safetodrink (photos and episode resources referenced).
• If you live in an area with potential PFAS exposure: consider testing private wells and consult state/local health departments for guidance and available assistance (the episode emphasizes the practical uncertainty and local variability).

Production credits (brief)

• Reported by Mara Hoplamazian; additional reporting and production by Jason Moon.
• Editors: Daniela Ali and Katie Kolinari; other production and legal teams credited in the episode.
• Safe to Drink is produced by The Document Team at New Hampshire Public Radio.

If you want a one-sentence summary: episode 1 tells how ordinary New Hampshire families discovered PFOA contamination in their drinking water, reveals the regulatory and scientific fog around “forever chemicals,” and follows grassroots community efforts to force answers and protections.