Groton Board of Health Approves Conditional Irrigation-Well Conversions in PFAS Zone

GROTON — July 23, 2026 — Groton Board of Health votes to allow PFAS-zone residents to keep irrigation wells under strict conditions. Meeting as a special session Thursday, the board unanimously recommended that the roughly 76 homeowners on Chicopee Row, Nashua Road, Hawthorn, and Rabin Road who are being offered free connections to a new public water main be permitted to convert their existing private wells to irrigation use, provided they obtain a permit, maintain complete physical separation from the town water supply, and submit annual water-quality tests showing PFAS at or below four parts per trillion. Groton Water Superintendent Dan Stumpf argued that prohibiting irrigation conversions would cause many homeowners to reject the free connection and continue irrigating with unmonitored contaminated wells. Board staff member Michaela, who drafted multiple permit versions, flagged the need for deed restrictions so future property owners remain bound by testing requirements — a question the board referred to Town Counsel. The recommendation carries no immediate force of law and will require a formal public hearing to amend the town's well regulations; the Water Department's public information session for affected residents is scheduled for August 6 at 6 p.m. at Town Hall.