WICOMICO COUNTY, Md. - Progress is being made by Perdue Farms after PFAS (Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances) or "forever chemicals" were detected at the Perdue Agribusiness facility on Zion Church Road, and subsequently at hundreds of nearby properties.
The company's CEO Kevin McAdams and Vice President of Environmental Sustainability Drew Getty provided an update in a press conference on Thursday afternoon. The company says it has conducted a substantial amount of testing, and has begun installation of water filtration systems.
"We've actually received validated test results from over 95 percent of the homes that requested testing. So we've made a lot of progress in a relatively short amount of time," Getty said.
Back in October, Perdue revealed unsafe levels of PFAS were detected at its Agribusiness facility, and subsequently determined an area of concern consisting of 920 properties.
The company tells WBOC more than 600 properties have requested testing, with about half of those receiving test results containing elevated levels. Of the more than 300 properties that had elevated levels, 158 have now received "point of entry treatment systems" or POETS paid by for Perdue.
The company continues to stress it does not know the origin of the contamination.
"We're working really closely with MDE (Maryland Department of the Environment) and with our environmental consultants to understand our process and that work is ongoing," Getty said.
Perdue Farms CEO Kevin McAdams tells WBOC the company will continue to remain transparent.
"Perdue has been around 105 years now and our goal is to continue to do the right thing every time," he said.
If you live in the area of concern and your water has not been tested, Perdue urges you to continue drinking the bottled water it is providing, and to contact the Wicomico County Health Department with any questions.
The company says it cannot comment on an ongoing lawsuit against Perdue launched by local law firm Baird, Mandalas, Brockstedt and Federico.
Attorney Chase Brockstedt told WBOC on Thursday more than 300 neighbors have joined the suit. He says he's encouraged by Perdue's actions, but still feels there is a lack of transparency about the source of the PFAS.
"Our hope falls into three buckets. The first bucket is remediation, we want to find out what the problem is, we want to fix it, we want to stop the damage that is happening every day and ultimately we want to help folks with their health effects that have been caused by PFAS contamination and ultimately their property damage as we move forward," Brockstedt said.
The law firm is awaiting Perdue's response to its allegations, which court records indicate is due early next week.
