SHADYSIDE — May Engineering and Shadyside Village Council discussed the Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances that are in the village’s drinking water during the regularly scheduled council meeting on Monday evening.

May Engineering owner Bryan May said that the water was recently tested and levels have come down since previous tests.

“The levels are below right now; they’re hovering just below minimum contaminant levels. They were above and now they’re below. So we don’t know what’s happening with the aquifer underneath the Ohio River,” May said.

He added that he has continued to stay in contact with Ohio EPA Environmental Supervisor Josh Legg as they will continue to heavily monitor the levels.

PFAS are commonly referred to as “Forever Chemicals.” According to the National Institute of Environmental Health and Science, PFAS are a large, complex group of synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the world since about the 1950s. They are ingredients in various everyday products.

May said Legg wanted the village to move the project along quickly because there’s money available for the project in March.

“He wanted us to go straight to design almost, but now that your levels have been fine, he wants to go back to our original position of completing a full holistic study, which is what we proposed to OEPA, and they’re giving us $750,000 to do so,” May said. “We’re at the final stages of getting that loan. It’s a principal-free loan, so it’s a loan, but it’s really a grant. But I think we just need some documents signed, and then it’s done, and we’ll be awarded that money in January.”

May has four major objectives for the village. He wants to look at regionalization, look at treatment, look at new water sources and, from there, work along with the village to see what is in the best interest as a community and financially.

“We have to see where you want to be as a village, do you want to have self determination with water or do you want to have to rely on somebody else,” May said.

May added that he and Legg spoke with the village of Bellaire about potentially connecting to its water system.

“We need to have a follow up meeting with Bellaire to talk through the logistics of that. We’ve also reached out to Belmont County, and they said that they do not have enough capacity to take on your village if you were wanting to connect to Belmont County’s system,” he said.

May added that Bellaire does have the capacity for Shadyside to connect to its water system if the village wanted to go that route.

He said one advantage of regionalization is, due to Bellaire’s economic disadvantages, there is a possibility of the Ohio EPA seeing a need for a new water plant that would create a water supply for both Shadyside and Bellaire.

Council member Lisa Duvall asked May if Bellaire’s PFAS levels are less than Shadyside’s which he confirmed that Bellaire’s levels were lower than Shadyside’s. She then asked him how that could be possible since both villages pull water from the Ohio River.

“The [PFAS] could be localized and swirling around in your local area, but eventually it has to kind of diffuse into the aquifer,” May said.

Council member Sam Carpino asked May if it would be possible for him to reach out to Glen Dale and Moundsville to see if communities on the other side of the Ohio River are experiencing the same PFAS as Shadyside.

May agreed to reach out to Glen Dale because he believes it has already implemented PFAs removal.

May Engineering project engineer Sergio Santo said that there’s multiple ways to filter the PFAS.

“One is granulated activated carbon. Basically, it’ll absorb all of the contaminants from the water as it flows through it,” Santo said. “There’s a little bit of a drawback also, because you have to have a solid system to get rid of the water but it’s one of the cheapest ones.”

He added that it requires space at the treatment plant and an initial capital cost, but the operating costs will be minimal for that particular system.