Chemicals found in Mississippi Mills, Ont., drinking water

Chris McNamara has been drinking the water at his home in Mississippi Mills, Ont., for more than 20 years without a second thought, but recent tests showtoxic chemicalsfound infirefightingfoamswere also coming from the taps inhis and other homes neighbouring aNational Research Councilfire safety testing facility.

The NRC has been delivering bottled water to some homes and is payingfor charcoal water filtration systems in others, but McNamara said that can't erase what he and his wife along with the residents of 50 neighbouring homes may have already ingested.

"There was no taste. Nothing changed in our water," he told CBC News."How long has this been going on?"

The NRC has operated the National Fire Laboratory on Ramsay Concession Road 8 in Mississippi Mills since 1981. Houses are constructed inside the large warehouse-like building and set on fire to test firefighting chemicals.

The fire centre was one of150 federal properties singled out for environmental assessment, which began in 2013.

Perfluoroalkylated substances, or PFAS, werediscovered in the groundwater fromdrill sites close to the facility's border.

Scientific information is limited onPFAS, Health Canada says, but in studies done on animals, "high levels ofPFAShave been linked with negative health effects ...including liver damage andimpacts on neurological development," the agency's fact sheet says.

In humans, short-term exposure toPFASat levels slightly above the safety threshold isn't expected to have health effects, according to Health Canada, but the agency does not define whatconstitutesshort- or long-term exposure.

40 homes tested so far

The environmental assessment was expanded to include nearby residences after the positive test result on the fire research centre'sproperty.

So far about 40 homes have been tested, said NRC spokesperson CharlesDrouin, andone shows PFAS levels slightly above what Health Canada deems to potentially cause health risks.

More than half showed no PFAS at all, and the remaining homes showed very slight levels of PFASthat aren't cause for human health concern, according toHealth Canada's water screening values.

PFASare used in a wide varietyof industrial and consumer products, including adhesives, cosmetics, cleaning products andfirefightingfoams, "as well aswater-, stain-, and oil-repellentcoatings for fabrics and paper," according to a Health Canada drinking water fact sheet.

The cause of thePFASin the groundwaterhasn't yet been determined,Drouinsaid. Theirpresence infirefightingfoams was the reason for the environmental assessment in the first place, but the assessment isn't complete and is "looking at a variety of potential explanations," he said.

More residences need to be tested,Drouinsaid.

Test results 'all foreign'

McNamara said he received a call to inform him that his water was being tested in January, and found out that his neighbours has also received calls.

"Everybody started gettingtogether and asking questions. 'What's up? What are they testing for? What's all this about? Doesanybody know anything?' Andnobodyhad a clue," he said.

When the results came back, McNamara said hewas still unsure what it all meant.

"Everything was stamped confidential. To addressee only," McNamara said. "I had to phone someone to say, 'Okay, what do the test results mean? Because it doesn't make sense.' I didn't know how to read it. It was all foreign."

He said he decided to take the NRC up on its offer of free filtered water because he didn't know if what was coming out of his tap was safe.

Residents in the affected area are holding an informal public meeting on March 16.