As a real estate agent and homeowner in Stillwater, Carmen Rubel Carver became concerned in March when she learned the city’s water system had been tagged with an advisory from the state health department for PFAS contamination.
She believes her lifelong battle with autoimmune problems may be exacerbated by contaminated water. But when she wanted to know more about the test results, which wells were contaminated and whether the sites were supplying water to her home, Carver hit a wall.
“They don’t share that data,” she said, adding that she has called City Hall two or three times but has not received a satisfactory response.
After years of watching Woodbury, Oakdale and Lake Elmo face PFAS drinking water contamination, it’s now Stillwater’s turn. The city has struggled to keep up with the complex science of PFAS and human health, a litany of questions from residents and the question of who will pay for the costly cleanup, estimated to run into the tens of millions of dollars.
It didn’t help that Stillwater officials initially slowed down on the news that a city well failed water tests, keeping the information internal despite a notice from the Department of Health last October saying it was time to tell the public . A Star Tribune story in March made it public; Stillwater has since created a web page with more information, including some of the latest test results for the worst wells.
The state health department, in response to a public records request, provided more Stillwater test results dating back several years. The results show that six of the city’s eight wells have failed to meet the Department of Health’s strictest health targets for a specific PFAS chemical – PFOA – and two wells are failing to meet the state’s health goals for an additional chemical known as PFOS.
The targets, known as health-based values, set very low levels for specific pollutants as a way to measure risk, said state toxicologist Kristine Klos. If the city’s water is above that level, it doesn’t mean someone will automatically get sick, she said. “If we look at the population as a whole, most people will be fine, some people will be affected.” The risks are greater for vulnerable populations such as infants and fetuses, she added.
The new targets drop to 0.0079 parts per trillion for PFOA. One part per trillion is approximately the equivalent of one drop of water in twenty Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The city’s two dirtiest wells — No. 6, located off Highway 95 south of downtown, and No. 10, near Lily Lake — also failed to meet the less stringent national standard set by the Environmental Protection Agency in April . They are closed. Health department testing shows that both wells were above the EPA standard of 4 parts per trillion for PFOS as early as fall 2021. Well No. 9, near Lily Lake, had PFAS levels just below the EPA standard. Some of those test results are now being shared on the city’s website.
The federal standard is legally enforceable, unlike state health goals, and will require municipalities by 2029 to take action to reduce PFAS levels and notify the public.
The family of chemicals known as PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, was developed by 3M for use in manufacturing and today is used in a wide variety of products from food packaging to firefighting foam. The chemicals are resistant to water, oil and heat and are virtually indestructible due to their close carbon-fluorine bonds, giving rise to their nickname as ‘forever chemicals’.
A plume of PFAS chemicals has contaminated groundwater in the east metro thanks to four 3M landfills in Washington County, where the company disposed of PFAS manufacturing waste from the 1950s to the early 1970s. Some compounds, especially the parent substances known as PFOS and PFOA, have been linked to damage to the liver, immune system and diseases, including cancer.
Stillwater City Administrator Joe Kohlmann said the city estimates it could cost up to $13 million per well to clean city water. The city is pursuing funds from the state bond bill, the drinking water revolving loan fund, community project financing and the MPCA Drinking Water Planning and Design Funds grant to help pay for the water treatment, he said.
Some cities have paid for PFAS cleanups with money made available in 2018 when 3M settled a state lawsuit by creating an $850 million cleanup fund. The fund was created to clean up a PFAS plume created by four 3M landfills in Washington County, but it is not yet known whether Stillwater’s contamination originated from any of those sites.
Even for cities that are allowed to use $3 million in settlement money, there are concerns that the money will run out. Oakdale Mayor Kevin Zabel said his city needs to expand its water system and has accelerated plans, fearing it will be harder to access cleanup funds in the future.
One of the last cities to see PFAS in the water is Oak Park Heights, which borders Stillwater to the south. “It was probably about a month ago that the tests came back and the public works director let everyone know,” Mayor Mary McComber said.
The city has created a website for residents and joined the $10.3 billion national 3M settlement reached last summer for water treatment plants across the country.
“There is money available, but when you think about how many cities have major problems … I don’t think money is going to be enough for everyone,” McComber said.
