Pepperell sues six companies over ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

By Hannah Goeke Globe Correspondent,Updated March 2, 2026, 3:49 p.m.
 
{Original article}
 
 
The town of Pepperell is suing six companies, including multiple pulp and paper businesses, for allegedly contaminating its water supply with “forever chemicals.”
The federal lawsuit, filed in US District Court for Massachusetts on Feb. 24, alleges that decades of industrial operations along the Nashua River have released toxic chemicals, known as PFAS, into the ground.
The town’s water supply, which serves more than 9,000 residents, includes five groundwater wells that are hydraulically connected to the Nashua River, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit names Georgia-Pacific, Weyerhaeuser, Neenah, Ahlstrom-Munksjo, Honeywell, and Hollingsworth & Vose as defendants. The companies didn’t immediately comment on the allegations.
“Thousands of Pepperell residents have been drinking PFAS-contaminated water for decades because Honeywell and other companies released dangerous chemicals from their facilities into the waterways feeding the community’s drinking supply,” said Paul Napoli of Napoli Shkolnik, a law firm that represents the town. “These are real families who will face real health consequences from these toxins.”
The lawsuit described the six companies as “current and former owners and operators of paper mills, industrial operations, and related facilities that used, handled, and disposed of PFAS and PFAS-containing materials in the course of their business activities in Massachusetts, including at properties they owned and/or operated in and around Pepperell, or upstream thereof.”
Exposure to the chemicals has been linked to serious health conditions, including cancer, immune system damage, and developmental complications, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
A little more than five years ago, PFAS was detected in the town’s wells, and officials later found the surrounding soil was also contaminated, town administrator Andrew MacLean said.
One well has been shut down since June 2021 due to elevated levels of PFAS. While another well system has had no issues, one well can’t provide enough water to the entire town on a daily basis, MacLean said.
The town is seeking to have the companies cover the cost of cleaning up the water supply and ensuring safe drinking water for residents, according to the lawsuit.
The cost could cost as much as $28 million, MacLean said.
“This is an extraordinary amount of money for a small town,” he said. “We’re looking for relief from the companies that created the problem.”
Pepperell obtained a no-interest loan from the state to cover half of the cleanup costs and received another $1 million grant.
Pepperell expects to bid this spring on a planned carbon filtration plant, projected at about $20 million, and is hoping to have it fully built by 2028, MacLean said. The plants remove a large percentage of PFAS chemicals from the water supply.
“These lawsuits can take multiple years to resolve. We have no idea if we will get compensated,” MacLean said. “It could be a small amount, it could be nothing. But we have no choice with the water.”
The town along the New Hampshire border is proceeding with the cleanup efforts, officials said.
“The citizens aren’t going to be happy about it, but that is the cost,” Maclean said. “They’re aware that there’s a bill coming in the future.”
While no resident has reported health issues that could be traced back to the chemicals, the concern is “long-term, not short-term,” Maclean said.
Kyla Bennett, director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility in New England, said there are alarming links between PFAS exposure and serious health problems.
“With any chemical to say chemical A causes health outcome B is a difficult thing to do,” she said. “But we do know, for example, that firefighters who wear their turnout gear, which is impregnated with PFAS, are seeing very high levels of testicular cancer, kidney cancer, and brain cancer.”
A federal study found that the chemicals taint more than 20 percent of the country’s tap water, affecting over 70 million Americans.
In 2020, the US Geological Survey collected water samples from 27 rivers and streams in Massachusetts and found PFAS in each.
Pepperell is among a growing number of Massachusetts towns that have sued industrial companies for allegedly contaminating their water with PFAS. Bennett said she has seen many such lawsuits succeed.
“People are suing all over the country. It’s kind of horrifying how widespread the contamination is,” she said. “It comes from the usage of firefighting foam, which is full of PFAS. It comes from industry. It comes from pesticides that are sprayed over our state all the time. There are so many different sources that it is now ubiquitous.”
Once contaminated, “there is not a good answer for cleaning up the soil,” Bennett said, since some PFAS can travel deep into the ground.
“These chemicals are called forever chemicals for a reason,” she said. “They do not readily break down in the environment. They can last decades, if not longer.”
PFAS have been used since the 1950s to make consumer products and materials that are resistant to water, grease, and stains such as non-stick cookware, textiles, and paper food packaging.
The EPA began mandating that water supplies test for PFAS in 2016, Bennett said.
Bennett recommends that residents buy a water filter that has been certified by the National Sanitation Foundation and avoid consumer products that contain PFAS.
“Only drink water and only feed water to your pets that has been filtered. Ice cubes, coffee, tea, pasta, anything that you cook,” she said. ”Minimizing one’s risk is really the only thing we can do right now."