As PFAS plume spreads, so do unknowns about who pays for cleanup

The toxic PFAS pollution found in private wells across Baytown Township came from one of two 3M dumping sites, state scientists recently confirmed, meaning that the cost of activated carbon filters for local homeowners will be covered by the $850 million 3M settlement fund created in 2018.

“It’s the best news,” said township supervisor Avis Peters, who shared the findings Monday at the board’s meeting.

The link to 3M’s dumping grounds came after state scientists found unhealthy levels of PFAS in about half of the private wells tested in Baytown Township. Most of the township’s 790 housing units are on private wells, said Peters. Further tests and analysis showed a link to the 3M Oakdale dump and the Washington County landfill, according to a MPCA spokesperson.

The link can be crucial for cities suddenly faced with the enormous expense of cleaning their water of PFAS, the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances used by Oakdale-based 3M in a wide array of manufacturing processes and consumer products. The fund was created to settle a lawsuit brought by the state of Minnesota over 3M’s practices of dumping PFAS-laced waste in four sites throughout Washington County, and the subsequent pollution of underground aquifers that feed municipal and private wells.

To find a link, state scientists examined the types of PFAS present in Baytown Township wells, the ratios of those types, and evaluated the local hydrology to assess a potential path for the contamination’s spread, said MPCA spokesman Dan Ruiter. “This is especially complicated in the East Metro area due to the geology and surface water/ground water integration,” he said in an email.

The testing is site specific, so there’s no set time frame for how long it takes the MPCA to determine the source of a city’s PFAS pollution.

While scientists were able to determine the source of Baytown Township’s pollution, the nearby Washington County cities of Stillwater and Oak Park Heights don’t yet know how PFAS infiltrated their water supplies and have had to find alternate sources of funds to clean it up.

The city so far has found PFAS in Wells No. 6 and No. 10 at levels above the health-based guidance values created by the state health department. Those wells were taken out of service, according to Kohlmann. A third well, No. 9, has traces of PFAS that are below the health-based guidance values.

Mayor Ted Kozlowski has publicly stated that the city needs up to $40 million to build a permanent solution, an amount nearly three times the city’s $15 million annual budget.

In Oak Park Heights, both of the city’s wells have traces of PFAS that are above the state’s health-based guidance values for two specific types of PFAS — PFOA and PFOS — but still below the federal standard of 4 parts per trillion.

The city so far has found $800,000 of grant funds from the state Department of Employment and Economic Development to help pay for the planning and design work of a permanent treatment plant, expected to be built near City Hall. The city needs another $600,000 to $800,000 to complete that work, said City Administrator Jake Rife. “We have been very proactive in finding outside funds to help us start this process,” said Rife. The city also signed on to a national lawsuit against 3M and DuPont. The suits settled for billions of dollars to be divided among drinking water systems across the country. It’s unknown how much of that award would come to Oak Park Heights.

The city’s goal is to have its water plant designs complete and ready in the event that a permanent water treatment plant is needed, said Rife.