As climate change intensifies and the ocean around the Vineyard rises, scientists and Island officials are concerned that salt water could permeate through the Island’s ground water, threatening the potability of its only source of drinking water.

The Martha's Vineyard Airport and the Edgartown water systems were honored by the state Department of Environmental Protection this week.

A new proposal to crack down on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water has some Island water departments preparing for extensive testing and treatment of public water systems.

Hazardous levels of PFAS have been found in a private well in West Tisbury following a testing program offered to the town through the Massachusetts DEP.

The Oak Bluffs water district is working toward implementation of a permanent chlorination system at the Lagoon Pond well after samples taken there more than two weeks ago revealed high counts of bacteria. Temporary chlorination of the entire water supply is currently under way as a precautionary measure.
The contaminated Lagoon Pond well was shut down in June, bringing an end to a two-day town-wide boil water order.

The Oak Bluffs water district continued to apply a low dose of chlorine to the Farm Neck well Thursday morning, after a 48-hour boil water order from the state Department of Environmental Protection had been lifted.

Several samples of town water were found to be contaminated by a total coliform fecal indicator Monday morning.

The boil water order for Oak Bluffs was lifted Wednesday morning, and officials said they had shut down the offending Lagoon Pond well and started adding chlorine to another well closest to the town's water tank.

A boil water order in Oak Bluffs was extended late Tuesday evening after test results from town water samples came back from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Two out of five water samples tested positive for fecal indicator bacteria, interim water superintendent Paul Provost said. The DEP is slated to send a representative to the Island Wednesday morning to meet with town and water district officials. The main source of the problem is the Lagoon Pond well.

The town of Oak Bluffs remained under a boil water order Tuesday, as the water district waited for the mandatory 48-hour water sample testing to be completed.

Paul Provost, superintendent at the Oak Bluffs water district, said he was surprised that the Department of Environmental Protection imposed the boil water order Monday morning because while the water did contain a background coliform bacteria, the sample did not come up positive for fecal matter.

“The water is safe,” Mr. Provost said. “Just boil it, and that boiling is really a precaution. The state wants to protect all the Oak Bluffs customers like they do every other town. This is why we sampled, because if we do have a problem in the well, you want to know and you want to deal with it.”

Eight months after town health officials first detected a contaminated plume running beneath Edgartown Meadows subdivision, they are turning their attention to installing clean drinking water in the neighborhood instead of pinpointing the cause.

"This has dragged on for more than half a year. It's obviously more of a long-term problem," said Matthew Poole, Edgartown health agent.

"The most important thing is for people to have safe drinking water regardless of whether the source is septic systems or the golf club or something we haven't even considered," he added.