Research snapshot · Water · 31 August 2026

Pfas and contaminants in Massachusetts: 39 towns on the record, the pace easing

This page is a snapshot, cut 31 August 2026, of a topic that moves. Below is the shape of the movement, read from the towns' own meeting records, and the way to get a view of it that stays current.

Snapshot taken 31 August 2026, based on 72 dated municipal records flagged as pfas and contaminants in Massachusetts, spanning 39 municipalities. The topic moves; a later cut supersedes this page.

What this page is for one topic at state or national scope, told as a story: how it arrived, the shape of its movement, a dated snapshot of a moving record, and the door to a view of it that stays current. If it does not, write to us; that is what changes the next edition.

The story so far

The record starts in Westfield, 19 September 2016. Since then 39 Massachusetts towns have put the topic on a meeting record, the newest of them Fitchburg on 6 August 2026.

The last 90 days put 4 meetings on the record, well down from 32 in the 90 days before.

It runs through the rooms where budgets and ordinances are made: Select Board, PFAS Sampling Results and Legislature — 194th General Court.

The shape of the movement

Dated meetings on the record at this scope, quarter by quarter, and the same 90-day count as a rolling line, whose right-hand point is that number. Counts of documents, never a reading of what they decided.
QuarterMeetingsTowns
Sep 2025 to Nov 202522
Dec 2025 to Feb 2026149
Mar 2026 to May 20263221
Jun 2026 to Aug 2026 (current)44

a rolling 90-day total, so the right-hand point is that same 90-day count. The busiest stretch was Mar 2026 to May 2026, with 32 meetings.

The towns on the record39, earliest first

Every Massachusetts town carrying the topic, the earliest first, each with its latest document.
Westfieldearliest 2016-09-19 · 9 meetings · latest 2020-07-15 · the document 07-15-20 PFAS Sampling Results
Auburnearliest 2020-06-02 · 3 meetings · latest 2026-04-08 · the minutes Agenda center file Conservation Commission - Revised
Peabodyearliest 2022-09-08 · 1 meeting · latest 2022-09-08 · the minutes 09/08/2022 - Regular Meeting
Somersetearliest 2023-01-01 · 1 meeting · latest 2023-01-01 · the document Cross Connection Control PDF
Falmouthearliest 2024-04-08 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-04-08 · the document 2024-04-08 PDF
Winthropearliest 2024-06-09 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-06-09 · the posted document MINS.IG.FC.6-9-24
Littletonearliest 2024-06-17 · 1 meeting · latest 2024-06-17 · a report Littleton Town Beach 6-17-24
Andoverearliest 2024-10-23 · 2 meetings · latest 2026-02-09 · the document 01202026 Second Generation Anticoagulant Rodenticides
Marshfieldearliest 2025-01-27 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-01-27 · the minutes Select Board — Minutes 1-27-25
State of MAearliest 2025-06-10 · 6 meetings · latest 2026-04-02 · the document S3034: To protect Massachusetts public health from PFAS
Easthamptonearliest 2025-06-25 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-06-25 · the document 6-25-2025 - Cyanobacteria (Blue-Green Algae) Bloom Advisory for Rubber Thread Pond
Graftonearliest 2025-08-22 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-08-22 · a report Weekly Report August 22 2025
Wellesleyearliest 2025-11-01 · 1 meeting · latest 2025-11-01 · the document The W - News to Know (November 2025)
Chelmsfordearliest 2026-01-28 · 4 meetings · latest 2026-06-09 · the minutes Minutes — 2026-06-09
Pepperellearliest 2026-01-28 · 4 meetings · latest 2026-03-19 · the agenda Board of Public Works

And 24 more towns on the record, in an account view.

From the record

The most recent documents behind this page, one per town. Each link opens the town's own file.

6 August 2026 · Fitchburg

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-06

5 August 2026 · Sharon

the agenda, on the town's own site Agenda — 2026-08-05

10 June 2026 · Attleboro Municipal Building Commission

the agenda, on the town's own site Municipal Building Commission

9 June 2026 · Chelmsford

the minutes, on the town's own site Minutes — 2026-06-09

Companies on this record168 companies, 62 documents

Named in the same documents that carry this topic, read from the record itself: the firms designing, building and advising the work, each with where the record places them:
MassDEPAshland, Brookline, Burlington and 3 more
CON-TEST Analytical LaboratoryWestfield
Westfield Water Dept.Westfield
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)Dartmouth, Fitchburg, Hudson and 1 more
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)Dartmouth, Fitchburg, Hudson and 1 more
Westfield DEW Water DivisionWestfield
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)Dartmouth, Fitchburg, Hudson
Weston & SampsonRockland, Sharon, Webster
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)Somerset, Westfield
Tighe & BondAuburn, Webster
VeoliaAuburn, Rockland
Wright-PierceAttleboro, Rockland
ComcastChelmsford, Mansfield
MIIAMarshfield, Pepperell
MWRABurlington, Winthrop
VerizonChelmsford, Mansfield
Weston and SampsonRandolph, Webster
John Hoadley Plumbing & Heating, Inc.Rockland
Pendulum LLCAshland
Sean Farrell Excavation, Inc.Rockland
Shrewsbury Water and Sewer DivisionShrewsbury
SynagroWebster
T.A. Iaria Corp.Rockland
U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyShrewsbury
Westfield Water ResourcesWestfield
1 Smith StreetChelmsford
9 Lady Slipper LaneChelmsford
A & L LaboratoryLittleton
A Vision from HopePeabody
AARPGrafton

And 138 more companies.

The documents naming each, and the threads they sit in, are the account view. If one of these is you, those are your projects on the record. Ask and we will show you every one, and the towns around them, as they move.

A snapshot of a moving record

Everything above is frozen at 31 August 2026; the topic is not. 97 more events on this topic carry no usable date and are counted, never dated. The counts follow where we read most: a town or a state absent here was not read at depth, and absence is not evidence the topic is absent there. A lighter-read state is not a ceiling; where you care about a region, pointing the system there is the first thing an account changes. How coverage is built, and its known limits: municipalalpha.com/methodology.

How we can tell you about it ongoing

We track this topic continuously; this page is one cut of it, taken 31 August 2026. An account turns the snapshot into a working view: every town and every document behind these counts, the thread on each matter as it develops, word of new meetings as they land on the record, your own states and topics side by side, and the data itself when you want it in a table. The towns above are the taste; what each is actually deciding, funding or stalling is the read an account carries.

Also at this scope: Pfas and contaminants across the country. The site's story on this topic: PFAS Is Spreading Through Municipal Agendas Faster Than Groundwater. Counts and dates are computed from the documents on the record; the topic and its definition are ours. This page carries no subscriber content.

Pfas and contaminants, Massachusetts

from the towns' own meeting records

Scope

Massachusetts

every topic this state carries

Area

Water

every topic in this area

Towns on the record

39

with a dated document on this topic

Earliest

19 September 2016

the documents' dates

Meetings, last 90 days

4 against 32 before

dated documents

Snapshot cut

31 August 2026

this page's date

A view that stays current

ask for yours