NORTHAMPTON — PFAS were present in a vast majority of Massachusetts waterways sampled between 2022 and 2024, including the Connecticut, Deerfield and Chicopee rivers, Oxbow Pond and Pelham Lake, according to a recent report from the MassPIRG Education Fund.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, form an expansive class of manmade “forever chemicals” that accumulate in the human body and are known to increase cancer risk, suppress the immune system and contribute to some reproductive health issues.
The report draws on data aggregated by the National Water Quality Monitoring Council’s Water Quality Portal through the Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Geological Survey and various state and local agencies. Of the 97 locations tested in Massachusetts between 2022 and 2024, 87% registered detectable levels of PFAS, some recording concentrations as small as a fraction of one nanogram per liter, others approaching five times the state’s maximum contamination levels for drinking water.
There is no state standard for the maximum levels of PFAS contamination in surface water, and individual samples provide only a snapshot of a moment in the recent history of these water bodies. Even so, the MassPIRG Education Fund is warning of potential harms to wildlife, biodiversity and human recreation and advocating for more extensive surface water testing.
“People fish in those areas. They recreate. They swim. They boat. And then some of those waterways are part of our drinking water; they lead into the groundwater that can get into wells and into the municipal drinking water as well,” said Deirdre Cummings, the organization’s consumer program director. “We don’t know that much, but we can assume that if PFAS is linked to cancer and immune issues in people, reproductive issues in people, there would be a likely expectation that in animals those may also be present.”
In Massachusetts, the highest concentration of PFAS in surface water was recorded in Ashumet Pond, between Falmouth and Mashpee on Cape Cod, where at one point in time concentrations reached 97 ng/L, according to MassPIRG. The state maximum contamination level for drinking water is 20 ng/L.
PFAS are present in aqueous film-forming foams, a type of firefighting foam that has been used on Joint Base Cape Cod, a military base in Buzzards Bay. Manufactured by 3M, the Chemours Company and predecessor entities to DuPont de Nemours, Inc., PFAS have been used in industrial applications and consumer goods ranging from firefighting turnout gear to Teflon-branded non-stick cookware, water-repellent outerwear and waterproof cosmetic products.
In western Massachusetts, PFAS reached highest reported concentrations of 1.3 ng/L in the Deerfield River, 1.5 ng/L in the Connecticut River in Chicopee, 2.8 ng/L in Easthampton’s Oxbow Pond, 3.41 ng/L in Powdermill Brook, 3.7 ng/L in Buck Pond, 3.9 ng/L in the Chicopee River, 4.6 ng/L in the Ware River and 4.8 ng/L in the Millers River.
Paul Beaulieu, a retired environmental scientist and board member of the Deerfield River Watershed Chapter of Trout Unlimited, said the presence of PFAS raises a red flag for the health of the river and the anglers who regularly fish in it, including for catches they may consume.
“Most of the fishing that happens on the Deerfield happens up high on the watershed where the perception is that the water is pretty pristine,” said Beaulieu, who has caught rainbow trout in the river’s northern tributaries to serve at chapter fish fries.
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health advises that potential health risks can be expected if a person continuously eats fish containing PFAS, and that there is no way to remove PFAS from fish. “It cannot be cut, cleaned, or cooked out,” the department’s website says.
Beaulieu suspects that PFAS concentrations would be highest near more urban areas, like Greenfield, but he said he’d like to see the state undertake a more thorough testing regime.
“Any exposure to PFAS is just not great, and we’re all exposed to it on a daily basis. Consuming PFAS-impacted fish would only add to the concentration in someone’s bloodstream and the potential health risks,” he said.
There are no current fish consumption advisories along the Deerfield River, but as of December 2025, there were 64 PFAS-related advisories against eating freshwater fish in Massachusetts, including in the Connecticut and Chicopee rivers.
A majority of the state’s advisories are related to mercury contamination.
Beyond the Bay State, Brunswick, Maine, recorded the highest concentration of any PFAS compound: One surface-water retention pond affected by the discharge of 1,450 gallons of aqueous film-forming foam from a hangar at the Brunswick Executive Airport in August 2024 tested at a PFOS concentration of 1,040,000 ng/L, according to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
Nationally, PFAS was detected in 83% of the 1,602 streams, rivers, lakes, reservoirs and ponds reflected in the report.
MassPIRG is advocating for the state to “turn off the tap,” Cummings said, and prevent certain PFAS-containing products from being manufactured, imported into or discarded in Massachusetts.
“If you’re trying to address the problem, you’re trying to get it at the source,” Cummings said.
