Committee reviews PCB find at water plant site

Select Board · Meeting of April 17, 2026

Springfield water officials said PCBs found at a treatment plant site pose no risk to tap water. The Springfield City Council's Sustainability and Environmental Committee, chaired by Councilor Victor DeHaville, heard that PCB-laced caulk turned up in construction joints of four slow sand filters built in 1966 at the West Parish plant, filters that have been offline since 2020. A commission official identified only as Josh said sampling with the EPA and MassDEP could take several more months before cost or schedule impacts to the roughly $300 million plant rebuild are known.

Councilor Sayla Gouban asked whether rate hikes would come "all at one time" or be "tiered"; Josh said the commission aims to keep increases stable. DeHaville said decades of inadequate rate increases left the city facing an "underinvestment in water and sewer." No PCBs have been found in the drinking water itself, officials said.

In the full story:

• The Full Story
• Why It Matters
• Key Motions & Votes
• Source
• Springfield's community access TV: Sustainability and Environmental Committee meeting, April 17, 2026
• The complete report: 807 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of April 17, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.

Checked against the record: before publication this article was automatically compared with the meeting transcript.