KRONENWETTER, WI (WSAU-WAOW) – PFAS has been a common enemy for communities across the state, but in Kronenwetter, they’re facing a different kind of threat to their water supply, and they’re unveiling a new weapon to fight it.
Village officials got their digging shows on to break ground on a new facility designed to protect Kronenwetter’s water supply, but not from PFAS, but from other materials like iron and manganese. Village President Chris Voll said, “It would collect in your sink drains, and on your toilet tanks, and it got to be we need to really get moving on start working on how we’re going to mitigate the manganese.”
According to the Wisconsin DHS, manganese can affect your nervous system, reproduction, and damage your kidneys. Engineers who designed the facility spoke about how it will keep manganese out once it’s up and running.
Project Engineer Matt Patterson said, “The filter is what’s called a green sand filter, it’s a special sand that’s designed to remove iron and manganese from water, it’s a very common treatment strategy that other communities in the area use to remove iron and manganese.”
Voll said that in terms of cost to residents, they don’t have an exact figure just yet, but that residents should be prepared for an increase in rates. He also said that just in case PFAS does become an issue in Kronenwetter, that an additional filter could be added later on.
The facility is scheduled to be up and running by August 2024.
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