Feb. 25, 2007: Tap water worries rising

Stacked high in the garage of Brett and Necia Gilbert's Woodbury townhouse are 10 cases of bottled water. Brett Gilbert doesn't particularly like the taste of the stuff.

Nor does he care much for the price. But given the unsettling news that chemicals once manufactured by 3M Co. have contaminated drinking water in communities from Oakdale south to Hastings, he and his family aren't drinking from the tap anymore.

"Maybe we've been watching too much Erin Brockovich, but the fact is that they just don't know the health effects," said Gilbert, a 26-year-old University of Minnesota Law School student and the father of two boys, ages 3 and 1. "And that's OK that they don't know. But for us, we just said, `You know what, for the time being, we're just not going to take the chance.' "

All across the Twin Cities' eastern suburbs, residents are packing meeting halls, buying bottled water, pricing water filters, phoning legislators and even rethinking the cause of some of their health problems after the recent discovery that perfluorochemicals (PFCs) have been seeping into local aquifers and into some private and municipal wells.

The unfolding investigation into whether the contamination has put the public's health at risk is stirring widespread unease and shaking the faith that some residents have long had in 3M, the corporate giant that has supported families in the east metro for generations.

Minnesota health officials have repeatedly said that there are no immediate health risks from drinking water contaminated by the chemical perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), which was recently discovered in wells used by six communities - Woodbury, Cottage Grove, Newport, St. Paul Park, Hastings and South St. Paul.

But they also have said that not much is known about the long-term effects of PFBA exposure. And it may be months, maybe longer, before studies identify the extent of the problem or shed light on its potential impact on humans.

Bill Nelson, a spokesman for 3M, said that the levels of contamination are slight and that the drinking water is "very, very safe." Nevertheless, Nelson said, 3M understands the "urgency of addressing" the pollution and is working quickly to find out where and how the chemicals are getting into the drinking water.

"The problem is that you just don't know with your kids how it will affect them," said Mike Bradley, a Woodbury resident who recently launched a website to collect data from residents and keep them abreast of the developments. "All I want is clean drinking water for the city of Woodbury."

Talk of the towns

Since last month's announcement of the PFBA discovery, hundreds of east metro residents have attended public meetings to learn more from state health officials and city leaders, and to vent. Concerns range from the health risks to the long-term cost of fixing the problem and its effect on property values.

Amid so much uncertainty, however, many are already taking steps.

Joan Asmus, a Woodbury resident, recently searched the Internet looking for a filter that could rid her water of PFBA. Others have called plumbers or water purification businesses seeking answers.

"We've been getting a couple of calls a day on it, and that's unusual. It's definitely an issue," said Jim Alberts, owner and president of A.J. Alberts Plumbing in Woodbury.

Bob Milbert, president of the Culligan-Milbert Company, a water conditioning business in Inver Grove Heights, said his employees have fielded dozens of calls from customers wanting bottled water or more information about filters. "People are curious," he said. "They are talking about it."

This month, the South Washington County School District, which draws students from Afton, Newport, Cottage Grove, St. Paul Park and Woodbury, posted online notices encouraging parents to send bottled water to school with their children if they were concerned about levels of exposure.

Barbara Brown, the district's communication director, said state and Washington County health officials have assured the district that the drinking water is not an immediate health concern.

Gilbert, a full-time law student living largely off student loans, said he and his wife talked about installing a filter for drinking water, but worried that it might be too expensive. For the time being, he said, they will simply buy bottled water.

"It puts me in a bad mood," he said. "I don't want to buy it and I don't want to lug it home and I don't want to store it and I don't want it in the garbage. I just want to drink it out of my tap."

No reason to panic

Some residents are holding back, waiting to see what the Department of Health and 3M will learn from additional study.

Cottage Grove Mayor Sandy Shiely said experts on the issue have told her that it is nearly impossible to remove all contaminants from water. Until more tests results are in, she said, "I don't feel there's a reason to panic."

Said Asmus, of Woodbury, "There's no mass hysteria here. I think there's a great deal of trust and respect for 3M in this area. It's been a mother to a lot of people in this area."

3M, which is based in Maplewood, has long provided jobs and fueled economic growth on the East Side of St. Paul and its eastern suburbs. It is the state's 10th largest employer, with a workforce of nearly 16,000 people in Minnesota.

But a history of groundwater contamination has tarnished its reputation with some residents.

The company manufactured PFCs for a half-century until 2002 and dumped waste from them until 1974 at sites in Oakdale, Woodbury and Lake Elmo, and on company property in Cottage Grove.

Two of the chemicals, which have been linked to thyroid, liver and developmental problems in animal studies, previously turned up in private wells in Lake Elmo and public wells in Oakdale.

3M paid for a new filtration plant for Oakdale and for the city water extensions to Lake Elmo homeowners with tainted wells.

But that was before the discovery of PFBA, which was found in several aquifers where most of the east metro communities draw their drinking water.

"The problem is `How long has it been in the water?' " said Corb Hopkins, 67, of Newport. "We've probably been drinking these chemicals all this time and we haven't grown any appendages. OK, I've lost my hair. But we look pretty much the same as the people in Highland Park or Minneapolis and we probably don't act any differently."

Hopkins, a former 3M employee with a background in chemistry, said that until more is known, he and his three adult children who live nearby will drink water from the tap.

But that would change immediately, he said, if one or both chemicals that contaminated wells in Lake Elmo and Oakdale begin to seep south into his water supply. "We're all just sitting in limbo," he said.

Which is why so many are so uneasy.

"People take it for granted that their water is safe," said Dale Case, an Oakdale resident and former 3M employee who began to suspect the water may have caused the liver damage that killed three of his four dogs.

"But the underground plume of contamination has expanded. ... It's a big issue all of a sudden.

"3M peed in the pool and they have to fix it."

mlsmith@startribune.com - 651-298-1550 richm@startribune com - 612-673-4425

WHAT ARE PERFLUOROCHEMICALS?

Perfluorochemicals are a family of compounds that 3M Co. began manufacturing in Minnesota in 1950. They have been widely used in household and industrial products such as water and stain repellents, fire retardants and pesticides, and were sold to DuPont for use in nonstick cookware. 3M announced in 2000 that it would phase out production of several of the chemicals and did so by 2002.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Affected residents may call the Minnesota Health Department's environmental health division at 651-201-4897 or visit www.health.state.mn.us.