PROVIDENCE — Wood River Health Services in Hope Valley has been awarded a $650,000 grant to implement a treatment system to remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the organization’s well water.

The Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank facilitated the grant through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Emerging Contaminant (Small or Disadvantaged Communities) Grant Program.

“Wood River Health Services provides medical, dental, and behavioral health services to 10,000 residents, yet their own drinking water system was found to contain high levels of PFAS,” said Infrastructure Bank executive director William Fazioli.

“When testing indicated that our own well water system had high levels of PFAS, we knew we needed to act quickly to address the issue to protect the health of our patients and staff,” said Alison Croke, CEO of Wood River Health Services. “As a community health center with a tight budget, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new treatment system was going to be extremely difficult. We are so grateful to the Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank for this grant.”