Jason Moon

People bring in extra chairs for the crowd, but there still aren't enough.

Eventually, the walls are lined with people standing.

Everyone is looking around at each other, whispering to their neighbors.

It seems tense.

This is not a situation that any of us wanted.

For an hour, state officials in suits give a presentation about this chemical that was found in the water, PFOA.

A screen behind them ticks through slides full of acronyms, diagrams, color-coded maps.

They explain that this chemical is used to help manufacture Teflon products.

And that it's part of a bigger family of chemicals, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, nicknamed PFAS.

They don't occur naturally.

They're man-made.

As Mike said, my name is Dr. Chan.

I'm with the New Hampshire Division of Public Health Services.

New Hampshire's state epidemiologist, Ben Chan, tells the crowd these chemicals are in stuff we use all the time.

Microwave popcorn bags, fast food wrappers, clothing.

He says basically everywhere scientists have looked, they've found these man-made chemicals in the environment.

But officials say the levels in the water in Merrimack are higher than the background levels.

Even though PFOA is everywhere, it doesn't really seem like anyone knows very much about it.

Chan calls it an emerging contaminant.

So the big question here is what does finding PFOA in the water mean for our health, your health, the health of your loved ones?