PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are manufactured chemicals once used in firefighting foam, industrial processes, and many consumer products, and they persist for a long time once in groundwater. Duxbury's Water and Sewer Advisory Board has pointed to a former municipal landfill and an older private landfill, both off Mayflower Street, as suspected contributing sources, with a former furniture-stripping business raised as another possibility. None has been definitively confirmed in public reporting as of this writing.
Every water utility publishes an annual Consumer Confidence Report listing every contaminant it tested for, the detected range, and the legal limit. Watch for which standard is being cited: Massachusetts' 20 ppt combined PFAS6 standard and the federal government's 4 ppt individual PFOA/PFOS limit are different measures, and a system can comply with one while working toward the other, as Duxbury currently is.
If your home is on a private well rather than town water, none of the municipal testing above applies to you directly. The Duxbury Board of Health has maintained private well regulations since 1992 and recommends the public water system as the preferred source, but testing your own private well independently is the only way to know what's actually in it.
Being below a legal limit isn't the same as zero PFAS, and several of Duxbury's active wells currently sit above the newer federal 4 ppt individual standard even though full enforcement isn't required for a few more years. The town's own long-term plan is granular activated carbon (GAC) treatment at the well level — the same underlying technology available in home filtration, just deployed at municipal scale. Many households choose not to wait for that construction timeline to finish.
In general terms, a few filtration approaches address what actually shows up in Duxbury's testing data:
The same underlying approach the town itself is building at the well level. Effective against PFAS (depending on the specific carbon media and contact time), chlorine taste and odor, and many disinfection byproducts. Common in pitcher filters, faucet-mount units, and whole-house systems.
The most thorough widely available option for PFAS, typically installed under a kitchen sink for drinking and cooking water specifically. A strong choice for households on Lakeshore Drive, Pine Street, or the Marshfield-supplied Gurnet Road area who want to address PFAS today rather than wait for treatment plants to come online.
Look for NSF/ANSI 53 or 58 certification specifically for PFAS reduction — not every carbon pitcher on a store shelf is tested for it. A reasonable lower-cost starting point while you decide on a longer-term solution.
Not sure where to start? A free household water test is the easiest way to figure out whether filtration makes sense for your specific home, and if so, which approach fits.