The Killingworth Volunteer Fire Department has been protecting this small town in Middlesex County since 1952. The firefighters are volunteers: neighbors, farmers, tradespeople who show up when the alarm goes off. For decades, when they trained on fuel fires or responded to vehicle accidents, they used AFFF (aqueous film-forming foam), because it was the most effective tool available for putting out flammable liquid fires.
Nobody told them the foam contained PFAS. Nobody told them PFAS doesn't break down. Every training exercise, every foam application, was laying persistent chemicals into the soil beneath the fire station. From there they slowly migrated into the groundwater below.
In 2023, Killingworth's water company detected PFOS and PFOA in its supply. The levels were below Connecticut's action levels, the state's threshold for requiring cleanup. But they were there. And when private wells in town were tested, some showed PFAS as well.
Connecticut's Attorney General William Tong cited Killingworth specifically in the January 2024 lawsuit against 28 chemical manufacturers: "PFAS have been detected in private wells and the town's water supply in Killingworth, attributable to discharge of AFFF foam at the Fire Department."
The fire department didn't know. The chemical manufacturers did.
The Pattern Across Connecticut
Killingworth is not an isolated case. It is one data point in a pattern repeating across Connecticut and across the country.
The CT Mirror reported in August 2023 that several public water suppliers serving parts of Colchester, Cromwell, and Enfield had recently detected PFAS in their systems. The sources varied, from industrial facilities to military sites to fire training areas. The mechanism was the same: PFAS from AFFF, applied over years or decades, working its way through soil into groundwater.
The CT DPH has mapped nearly 700 PFAS-contaminated sites in Connecticut. Many of them are fire stations, fire training facilities, and airports, places where AFFF was used routinely for decades.
This is a statewide problem being discovered town by town, well by well. In New Milford, a similar story is playing out, except there the PFAS source is a paper mill that's been operating since the 1890s.
What Does "Below Action Levels" Actually Mean for PFAS?
When Killingworth's water company announced that PFAS had been detected but was below Connecticut's action levels, many residents read it as good news. The water is safe. The levels are acceptable.
That reading needs some unpacking.
Connecticut's action levels were set before the EPA finalized its new maximum contaminant levels in 2024. The EPA's new limits are significantly lower than Connecticut's action levels for some PFAS compounds. Water that is "below Connecticut's action levels" may still be above the new federal limits that utilities must meet by 2029 (EPA has proposed a requestable extension to 2031).
More fundamentally, the EPA set its new limits at 4-10 parts per trillion because the science on PFAS health effects supports no higher limit. "Below action levels" is a regulatory category, not a health guarantee. Fairfield County residents are already facing this reality. Utilities there are working toward the new federal PFAS limits on a multi-year timeline.
Should You Test for PFAS If You Live Near a Connecticut Fire Station?
The implication of the Killingworth story is uncomfortable. Any Connecticut town with a fire station that used AFFF, which is most of them, has a potential PFAS contamination source. The contamination may be minimal. It may be significant. Without testing, you don't know.
If you live within a half-mile of a fire station, a fire training facility, or an airport in Connecticut, and you're on a private well, PFAS testing is not optional. The EWG's interactive PFAS contamination map can help you identify known contamination sites near you. Testing is the only way to know whether decades of fire training in your neighborhood have affected your water.
Want ZIP-level context before deciding whether to test? Enter your ZIP code at CheckYourTap.com to see available public-system or regional monitoring records associated with the ZIP. This is not a test of a tap, well, or property. Free, in 30 seconds.
Prefer to start local? See what's been detected in Killingworth's public water, including whether PFAS shows up in the supply.
Keep Reading
- New Milford Residents Found PFAS in Their Wells. The Source Was a Paper Mill That's Been There for a Century.
- Fairfield County PFAS: Legal Is Not the Same as Safe
- The Connection Between Your Water, Your Thyroid, and Your Hair That Nobody Is Making
Sources: CT Attorney General William Tong, PFAS Lawsuit Press Release, January 25, 2024; CT Mirror, "More CT Towns Are Finding PFAS in Their Water Supplies," August 2023; CT DPH PFAS Information; Town of Killingworth PFAS Information Page; CT DEEP PFAS Information for Municipalities.
