Wisconsin DNR
WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — For those hoping there would be a straightforward answer to how PFAS contamination has gotten into the municipal water supply for many Central Wisconsin communities, you’re going to be disappointed.
“There may not be just one source or responsible party in some of our cases,” said Trevor Nobile, a field operations director with the Wisconsin DNR. “That can be very difficult to sort through on multiple levels.”
He says that’s especially true with Wausau due to its proximity to the Wisconsin River and history as an industrial and manufacturing center. “We don’t know where these potential plumes may overlap, or where they may be commingled.”
Nobile and his colleague Steve Elmore spent about a half hour giving a presentation and answering questions from the Wausau City Council on the issue. The presentation was ordered by Mayor Katie Rosenberg, who says she did so after taking several questions from the community and the council about why the city’s water utility hasn’t been able to find a responsible party for the contamination and saddle them with helping to clean the chemicals from the water supply.
RELATED: PFAS Discovered in Wausau Water Wells
Nobile adds that he and Elmore represent two of several teams within the DNR that are monitoring the issue from different angles. Those focuses include remediation and redevelopment, groundwater, waste and materials management, and surface water.
“We all work very closely together to try to understand [PFAS,]” added Nobile.
The city’s water utility is currently using a resin filtration system to remove PFAS from water being distributed to customers. But that solution isn’t a lasting one, as the resin has already had to be rinsed out several times and city leaders are expecting that it will need to be replaced completely later this fall. That process can take up to a month and can cost up to $1 million for supplies and labor.
A granular activated carbon filtration system will be installed at the new drinking water treatment plant in late 2024, which will be the utility’s permanent solution.
The PFAS issue came to light in early 2022 and led the city to distribute filters and pitchers designed to remove the chemicals to residents who wanted them. They also immediately began the process of outfitting the city’s new drinking water treatment plant, which at the time was under construction, to remove the chemicals.
RELATED: Sticker Shock at the Faucet: Wausau Water Works Proposes Significant Rate Increase for 2023
Those systems, plus other financial issues with the utility, have led the city’s financial consultant to recommend a 65% rate increase for users beginning this summer. That data is currently being evaluated by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, which will have the final say in the matter. A public hearing on the increase has not been scheduled but will be before any final decision is made.
A separate sewer rate increase was already approved for this year, though that rate is controlled by the utility itself and not subject to state regulation.
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