NEWPORT, Five environmental scientists from the United States and Quebec will present research on chemical contamination in the Lake Memphremagog watershed at a public forum on June 10.
The event, hosted by the Memphremagog Protection Coalition, will begin at 6:30 p.m. in Room 380 of the North Country Career Center in Newport. It will also be available via Zoom.
Organizers said the forum comes as municipal leaders from towns around the lake on both sides of the border have signed a joint statement calling for a ban on landfill leachate discharge in the watershed. That push aligns with H.652, a bill introduced this session by Reps. Woody Page and Larry Labor.
Leachate is not the only pollution source, but research has found it contains elevated levels of PFAS, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances known as “forever chemicals”, and other toxins that accumulate in water, fish and wildlife, posing risks to people who drink from or eat fish from the lake, according to organizers.
The panel includes Dr. Vicki Blazer of the U.S. Geological Survey, who has studied brown bullhead fish in the lake; Dr. Sebastien Sauvé of the Université de Montréal; Dr. Kyla Bennett of the PEER Group; Dr. Nicole Dennis of the University of Florida; and Dr. David Bond of Bennington College. Marguerite Adelman of PFAS Free Vermont will facilitate.
The event is free and open to the public. Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83011847097?pwd=0stJYL72CBHE1HdkR9ZYeqFtq63jOQ.1
Originally reported by Newport Dispatch.
Photo: Oliver Plattner via Unsplash. Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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