I am writing to show my support for stopping the use of PFAS herbicides in Lake Maspenock. I read the letter to the editor in the June 17 edition about this topic, and with our town struggling with PFAS in our water for many years now, I was surprised when I read it. Although pesticides are important for the ecological health of our lake, there are many alternative methods that haven’t been tried. PFAS is a forever chemical, meaning it can take a thousand or more years to break down in our environment. The temporary algae bloom or invasive species that may affect the lake can be solved with many other methods, like mechanical removal or looking into why they are growing so quickly and beginning to cut off the resources they need. Both of these processes don’t require using chemicals that could last many lifetimes into the future. Additionally, while the town is acquiring a PFAS filter for our water, it’s still much better to begin to prevent the PFAS being there in the first place so people are more able to swim and keep our water actually usable.

Overall, I am writing to show support to stop putting PFAS into our water and to protect the citizens who use the lake daily.

— Gideon McFarland, Hopkinton

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