Jun. 4—Maine’s largest water district has filed a lawsuit against Dupont, 3M and other manufacturers of so-called forever chemicals to hold them responsible for the cost of testing and treating polluted wastewater.

“Protecting public health, safety, and the environment is (our) top priority,” said general manager Seth Garrison. “By taking legal action against manufacturers of PFAS, Portland Water District is holding accountable those responsible for pollution.”

The district has hired SL Environmental Law Group of New Hampshire to handle its legal complaint. The firm also represents the York sewer district, which filed a similar suit last year, and dozens of other water and wastewater districts seeking compensation for treatment costs.

The district’s four wastewater treatment facilities — which serve residents of Portland, Cape Elizabeth, Cumberland, Gorham, Westbrook, and Windham — report between 15 and 32 parts per trillion of reportable forever chemicals in the wastewater it discharges into Maine waters.

Federal regulators have said they plan to set regulatory limits on forever chemical levels in wastewater but have yet to issue a proposal. Exposure to even trace amounts of some forever chemicals has been linked to deadly cancers, liver and heart problems, and immune and developmental damage to children.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently set strict federal limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in drinking water. However, the PFAS levels in the district’s drinking water supply are so low that they can’t be detected by current lab technology.

Portland Water District filed its legal complaint in the U.S. District Court in South Carolina against 18 companies that designed, manufactured, marketed, distributed or sold six toxic forever chemicals or their precursors they knew or should have known posed a public health threat.

The companies used these chemicals to make products such as Teflon, a type of spray-on plastic used to create a non-stick surface; Scotchgard, a protective film used to make fabric waterproof; and aqueous firefighting foam, a fire suppressant used to put out liquid fires.

Once released into the environment, these chemicals eventually wind up in the district’s sewer system, sometimes in the leachate collected from landfills that accept products containing PFAS and sometimes from residential sewage. Much of that PFAS winds up as sludge the district must pay to landfill.

The district is asking the court to order the defendants to reimburse it for the costs of investigating, monitoring, containing, and abating the PFAS-related contamination of its wastewater system, including the cost of treating and disposing of the PFAS-contaminated sludge.

This story will be updated.

Copy the Story Link