Here & Now

What Wausau Is Doing about PFAS in its Water

Frederica Freyberg:

In environmental news, imagine having to drink only bottled water or install a filter system to safely use water out of the tap. This is the reality for Wausau residents because all the city wells have high levels of PFAS contamination. PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals used in things like non-stick cookware, firefighting foam and fast-food wrappers. Because they don’t break down, they’re known as “forever chemicals” that may cause cancer, heart issues, developmental delays and infertility. This is bad stuff. And cities across the state are dealing with PFAS, but Wausau stands alone, having all six of its wells contaminated. It’s also the only city in the state that will treat all the water entering its treatment system. The city’s mayor, Katie Rosenberg, joins us with the latest. Mayor, thanks very much for being here.

Katie Rosenberg:

Thank you very much for having me today.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you have taken on PFAS contamination of your city water supply and as we just mentioned, will treat all water entering the system, even building a whole new water treatment plant to do so. This is clearly no piecemeal response. Why are you so aggressive on this?

Katie Rosenberg:

Thank you very much. So we had already planned on building a new drinking water facility so we were trying to work on the future, make sure we future-proofed our next 50 years of drinking water. And so in preparation for that, we did some testing. Both a couple of years ago but again this year, when some of our neighbors discovered PFAS in their wells. So it’s kind of good timing but also kind of scary timing that we have the opportunity to treat all the water starting in August, when our new facility opens, we’ll have a new treatment opportunity. We have lots of space for this so we’re looking at all kinds of different treatment options right now from carbon to ionic exchange, so we’re in an interesting situation right now.

Frederica Freyberg:

How high are the levels of PFAS contamination in Wausaus water?

Katie Rosenberg:

So on average, it’s about 30 parts per trillion, so we have some wells under 30 but we have some that are closer to 50 parts per trillion. So we obviously want to be below the DHS advisory of 20 parts per trillion, and I would really like us to be even below that.

Frederica Freyberg:

Is there an identifiable source?

Katie Rosenberg:

We don’t have the source yet. It’s likely that there are a couple different sources. You know, like a lot of cities that are organized along the Wisconsin River, we’ve had industrial past, and you know, the more we learn, the more we know what we shouldn’t have been putting in the ground so we’re working with the DNR to investigate just exactly what that source is.

Frederica Freyberg:

You just spoke to the levels that are in your water but are there yet any agreed upon state or federal safety standards?

Katie Rosenberg:

I wish we had one right now. But for the last couple of years, the DNR and the DHS have been working together. The health advisory is for 20 parts per trillion or above and the DNR just recently, a few months ago, decided they would move ahead with 70 parts per trillion which is similar to what the federal advisory is at right now with 70 parts per trillion with the EPA. So we’re kind of in an interesting situation where we’re below that 70 parts per trillion but we know what the health experts are saying and we’re likely to see that come down as we learn more.

Frederica Freyberg:

So you feel as though you may as well just be at that lower level?

Katie Rosenberg:

Oh, yeah, of course. We want to be at the best level to protect human health.

Frederica Freyberg:

How much are your mitigation efforts costing and how are you affording it?

Katie Rosenberg:

So this is an interesting time related to all the COVID CARES funding and bipartisan infrastructure and all of this. So right now we’ve spent a couple hundred thousand dollars on filters, personal filters, pitcher filters for the community so that people can use the water from their faucet, but also be sure that the PFAS are being filtered out. So that’s a couple hundred thousand dollars. We did some bottled water for a while but that gets expensive and it runs out pretty quickly, and then when we’re looking at our new facility, that PFAS remediation plan, that’s going to be a couple million. So we’re hoping we can work alongside our friends in Washington, maybe get some bipartisan infrastructure dollars. I know the Biden administration has said they would like to address PFAS in drinking water, but we’re also working closely with our representatives here.

Frederica Freyberg:

How frightening is this contamination for your residents?

Katie Rosenberg:

You know, I think that a little bit of — there’s a learning curve. We haven’t really been talking a lot about PFAS so hearing your water is contaminated with PFAS is kind of alarming if you don’t know what it is. And even when you do know what it is, you don’t know with these dueling level and different experts saying various things, and of course politicians saying different things. So some people were scared, especially with the health risks here, but we’re trying to do our best to let people know that the Department of Health Services has told us the risk is exposure over time, so anything we can do to reduce our risks, and that’s including the drinking water, but also maybe other things like the coatings on frying pans and things like that, so reducing our risk all around.

Frederica Freyberg:

Do you expect Wausau to be a model for other municipalities across the state dealing with PFAS?

Katie Rosenberg:

I certainly hope that we can help steer folks in the right direction. I’ve had a lot of conversations with other mayors going through similar problems, and the best thing I learned is if we can help each other out with this institutional knowledge and share it, we’ll do it.

Frederica Freyberg:

Because it really seems as though every day, you read about another city, another municipality that is also finding this PFAS contamination. So it is widespread across Wisconsin.

Katie Rosenberg:

It’s widespread across Wisconsin, across the Midwest and across our nation. You know, I talked to folks in California too, and they’re about 10 years ahead of us as far as technology. So we can all stand to learn from each other.

Frederica Freyberg:

Great. Well, Mayor Katie Rosenberg, thanks very much.

Katie Rosenberg:

Thank you very much.