PFAS, Forever Chemicals In Woodbury: City To Host Public Meetings

WOODBURY, MN — The Woodbury City Council is set to hold several meetings this week to learn how residents feel about the city’s efforts to address problems with its drinking water.

“Virtual listening sessions” are scheduled to run from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday and from 6-7 p.m. Thursday on Microsoft Teams.

City staff members are expected to deliver a short presentation about PFAS in Woodbury before Mayor Anne Burt and City Council members field questions and comments from residents.

Officials will also ask residents to answer several questions about PFAS in the city, including:

• What questions do you have around water quality in Woodbury?
• What additional information are you looking for on this issue?
• Where have you received information about water quality in the past?
• How would you prefer to receive information about water quality in the future?

Click here for a link to Tuesday’s meeting. Click here for a link to Thursday’s meeting.

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Residents can also share their thoughts on PFAS with city officials by emailing the Public Works Department at publicworks@woodburymn.gov or calling 651-714-3720.

The city council says it wants to hear from residents as it works to “implement temporary and long-term water treatment solutions” for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they are highly resistant to heat and water and can remain in the environment for years without breaking down. These chemicals are found in a range of food and consumer products and have been linked to infertility, thyroid problems and several types of cancer

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Woodbury has been forced to remove many of its municipal wells in recent years due to high PFAS levels and health warnings from state officials. But Woodbury officials said in the city’s 2021 Drinking Water Report — published in May — that “no contaminants monitored under the Safe Drinking Water Act requirements were detected at levels that violated state and federal drinking water standards.”

A new data dashboard from the Minnesota Department of Health showed there are PFAS within Woodbury's community water source, but levels are within health guidelines set by the department.

The forever chemicals in Woodbury's groundwater have been traced back to products that were made at 3M's Cottage Grove facility for almost 60 years until 2002. Those PFAS were disposed of at multiple sites in Washington County.

Woodbury is working to expand capacity at its temporary water-treatment plant, which could be required for more than five years as crews build a long-term treatment facility, officials said.

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The city bought a parcel of land south of Hargis Parkway and east of Radio Drive, where a permanent facility to treat its water for PFAS will be built. Construction is expected to start in 2023 or 2024, officials said.

Minnesota reached an $850 million settlement agreement with 3M in 2018, with about $700 million to be directed to mitigate PFAS in drinking water in the Twin Cities' east metro. City officials have said they will try to have most of the costs for the permanent facility funded through that settlement agreement.

The best thing people can do right now is install one of several commercially available filters, but they need to make sure the filter removes PFAS.

PFAS can pose a health risk even at levels so low they can’t be detected in drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Agency said earlier this month in a revised advisory about forever chemicals.

The agency lowered the allowable limits of PFOA and PFOS — two compounds found in the cluster of forever chemicals widely used in nonstick cookware, moisture-repellent fabrics and flame-retardant equipment — immediately drawing fire from the chemical industry.

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The American Chemical Council, which represents PFAS producers such as 3M and Dupont, said the EPA's new standards "will have sweeping implications" on public policy, and "cannot be achieved with existing treatment technology and, in fact, are below levels that can be reliably detected using existing EPA methods."

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