pfas · Chautauqua County
Mayville PFAS Site
Mayville
Ongoing investigation of PFNA detected in the village water system and in environmental media near a former firefighting-training area; replacement supply and treatment measures were implemented.
The documented story
What happened here?
Mayville's PFAS story began at the tap. In December 2020, testing found perfluorononanoic acid, or PFNA, in three of the village's four public-water wells—reported in the 2025 work plan at 140 to 390 parts per trillion—and health officials issued a do-not-drink advisory. The response changed where the village drew its water while investigators worked backward from the wells toward a source.
State sampling identified PFNA and other PFAS in environmental media near the former Mayville school property at 2 Academy Street. Firefighting exercises reportedly used aqueous film-forming foam on the former athletic fields, making that area a suspected source rather than a source proven by historical purchase or discharge records. The formal site covers three parcels totaling 15.6 acres, but the investigation follows groundwater and surface-water pathways beyond those property lines.
DEC divided the work into three operable units: the Academy Street property, a still-undefined downgradient area along Patterson Street, and a farther downgradient area along Morris Street. That structure matters because the map pin marks the suspected source area, not the full known or possible extent of the investigation.
A laboratory result changed a village water supply
Mayville moved from a do-not-drink advisory to treatment and source investigation
2023year DEC designated the investigation as a drinking-water contamination site
Initial detection
Residents received a do-not-drink advisory
After PFNA was found in the public water system, the Health Department advised customers not to drink or cook with the affected supply. That precaution addressed ingestion while agencies sampled wells and environmental media and the village pursued replacement water and treatment.
Interim response
Treatment restored usable water while the investigation continued
A granular activated-carbon system was installed on a village supply well to remove PFAS. State and county updates distinguish treated finished water from untreated source-water detections, an important difference when describing current household use.
2023-present
The water problem became a source-area investigation
DEC designated the Mayville PFAS Site after drinking-water contamination and began detailed investigation around 2 Academy Street, including a former firefighting-training area. Long-term planning evaluates a new groundwater source or continued treatment of existing wells.
Atlas classification: documented use, environmental detection, agency investigation.
PFAS activity, investigation, or detection is documented in the cited site record. That documentation does not by itself establish off-site exposure or a health effect in any individual.
Compounds and evidence
Documented use
Firefighting-foam use was reported at the former athletic or training area; DEC continues source investigation.
Detected
Medium: public-water wells and environmental media
PFNA is the principal compound driving the Mayville investigation.
Detected
Medium: village source water
Reported at lower concentrations than PFNA in the cited village sampling.
Analyzed; not detected in the cited sample set
Medium: village public-water wells
This statement is limited to the cited village-well sampling and does not describe every environmental sample.
Evidence limit: Mayville samples have been analyzed for broader PFAS panels, but the investigation is principally a PFNA record. APFO has not been identified as a site-specific material.
C8 and APFO: PFOA is often called C8. APFO is the ammonium salt of PFOA, but a PFOA environmental result does not identify APFO as the original product or prove where it came from.
News record
Major news events
Coverage selected here marks a turning point in public awareness, policy, enforcement, employment, or cleanup. Links open at the original publisher or archive; WNYAtlas does not reproduce restricted articles or images.
Mayville issues a do-not-drink advisory after PFNA is detected
The drinking-water advisory prompted bottled-water distribution, investigation of the contamination source, development of a replacement supply, and carbon treatment for an existing well.
WKBW 7 News ↗The Village of Mayville files suit over PFAS contamination
The litigation moved the story from emergency water response into a dispute over responsibility and the cost of securing a safe long-term municipal supply.
The Post-Journal ↗State investigation and village water-system work move forward on separate tracks
DEC approved a detailed environmental investigation while Mayville evaluated a replacement source or added carbon treatment for affected municipal wells—exposure control and source cleanup serving related but different purposes.
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation ↗Chemical guide
Chemicals named in this record
These links explain potential hazards and exposure pathways. A chemical named in a record does not establish that anyone was exposed or harmed.
Health context
Why PFAS are a long-term concern
PFAS are a large family of manufactured chemicals. Many are highly persistent, and some can remain in the environment or build up in people and animals over time. Persistence can allow releases to move through groundwater, surface water, waste systems, food, and fish long after the original use has ended.
Human studies have found associations between increased exposure to certain PFAS and higher cholesterol, lower antibody response to some vaccines, changes in liver enzymes, pregnancy-induced hypertension and preeclampsia, small decreases in birth weight, and kidney or testicular cancer for PFOA. Evidence differs by compound, and research continues. A site detection does not show that a particular person was exposed or that PFAS caused an illness.
Chronology
Timeline
- December 2020
PFNA was detected in the public-water system and the Health Department issued a do-not-drink advisory.
- 2021
The village began using a new supply well and installed carbon treatment on an existing well; PFAS was not detected in water supplied from the replacement sources.
- 2021–2023
Supplemental investigations sampled soil, sediment, surface water, groundwater, and private wells.
- 2023–2026
DEC designated the property a drinking-water-contamination remediation site, approved a detailed investigation work plan, and the village pursued replacement-well or additional carbon-treatment improvements for its long-term supply.
Environmental record
Documented impacts
- PFNA and other PFAS were documented in on-site surface soil, sediment, surface water, and groundwater.
- Off-site sediment, surface water, and groundwater results showed migration beyond the three-parcel site boundary.
- Twenty-five private wells sampled in December 2020 did not contain PFNA or elevated concentrations of the other analyzed PFAS. A twenty-sixth private well sampled in September 2021 also had no detections on the analyzed PFAS panel.
Response
Cleanup and controls
- The immediate drinking-water response changed supply wells and added granular-activated-carbon treatment.
- The remedial investigation is defining source areas, downgradient operable units, environmental pathways, and the extent of impacts to public-water wells.
- A separate 2025 village water project evaluated a new replacement groundwater source and additional granular-activated-carbon treatment for affected wells. Water-system improvements reduce exposure but do not substitute for finding and addressing the environmental source.
- Future source removal, treatment, institutional controls, or long-term monitoring will depend on the completed investigation and selected remedy.
Then and now
The site today
Mayville is an active PFAS investigation, not a completed cleanup. The public-water exposure was mitigated through replacement supply and treatment, while DEC continues to define the source and off-site extent before selecting a permanent environmental remedy.
Atlas connections
Connected places
These collections explain documented material, facility, waterway, ownership, or cleanup relationships. Inclusion does not imply that every place shares one contaminant source or plume.
Western New York PFAS investigations
These records share an emerging contaminant and evolving agency investigation framework; they do not imply a common source or connected groundwater plume.
The air reserve station record follows PFAS investigation associated with federal facility operations.
Community investigationMayville PFAS SiteMayville is a separate Chautauqua County investigation with its own sources, boundaries, and response decisions.
Residential-area investigationMarine Drive Apartments East PFAS InvestigationMarine Drive represents a distinct Buffalo investigation and should not be read as physically connected to the other PFAS locations.
Mayville's separate environmental investigations
The village contains two nearby but distinct records. Their connection is geography and public interest, not a finding that one site caused the other's contamination.
Research status
Open questions
- Track the remedial-investigation results and distinguish PFNA from other PFAS in maps and tables.
- Do not portray the 2020 do-not-drink advisory as current when state records say replacement sources have tested without detected PFAS.