WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — The Wausau Water Works Commission held a special meeting Tuesday regarding the recent news of PFAS contamination in the city’s water wells.
No specific action was taken but the Commission did vote to continue to evaluate short-term options for end-users such as providing filters, bottled water filling stations, or other means of reducing the chemicals until the city’s new drinking water treatment plant comes online. Public Works Director Eric Lindman says with the chemicals still considered an “emerging contaminate,” clear guidance on the issue is hard to come by.
Despite that challenge, he is still setting the expectation that the city’s water supply will be below standards when the new drinking water treatment plant comes online later this year. “We know that 20 [parts per trillion of PFAS] is a number on a wall, but that’s not our goal. Our goal is to lower PFAS to the lowest possible level. We don’t know what the EPA is going to come up with in the fall. Without that direction, our direction is to reduce that down as low as possible.”
Lindman adds that the city’s water supply remains safe and compliant and that residents should feel safe drinking it. But, if they feel the need to take action now they should do so. City leaders have made informational materials from both federal and state regulators regarding PFAS available on the city’s website, including links to purchase products designed to filter out the contaminants.
“Unless we get other direction from the state that there is an immediate health concern with the water at this point, which they have not come and told us that or even told us that we have to change direction on how we are providing water, we will continue on while letting the public know that we will have a solution in place as we move forward,” said Lindman.
The commission did give the utility instructions to continue searching for an appropriate filtration and treatment option for the new water treatment plant. They also instructed the utility to get in touch with the contractors building the plant to see if it would be possible to bring the facility online sooner, which the utility indicated isn’t likely but still worth asking.
No specific action was taken regarding solutions for homes and businesses in the near-term, such as providing appropriate filters or bottled water, but those discussions could come back at the next regular Water Works Commission meeting in March.
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