Troubled Waters: Protecting North Alabama drinking water from PFAS a multimillion dollar effort

Throughout the month of June, we've aired investigative reports on Monday evenings about PFAS or Polyfluoroalkyl substances in the water in our region.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency says the chemicals can cause death and  increase the risk of serious illnesses, including various forms of cancer. Few providers in our region have spent the millions of dollars required to ensure their customers have unquestionably safe water free of dangerous and toxic PFAS contaminants.

Some water utilities aren't willing or able to spend the millions it'll take to remove PFAS contaminants without cutting corners.

Jeaniece Slater spent several hours with our WAAY 31 crew explaining how she was able to implement a system to remove PFAS from the water for the children and families in the areas which she serves. Slater is the general manager West Morgan East Lawrence Water and Sewer Authority.

"Once this became a problem, it was our job and our duty to figure out how we were going to fix this problem," Slater explained.

Slater and her team completed the process and installation of a reverse osmosis water treatment plant.

"In 2018, we started construction and we've been up and running now for three years," she said.

They paid $32 million for the entire plant.

"We are using high pressurized membranes and large pumps to push water through pores to remove these chemicals," Slater explained. "We actually had won a lawsuit. Then we used that money toward building this system."

Slater said she could not share additional details regarding the lawsuit.

"We've been able to really be very cautious with what we do with rates. We're trying everything we can to make sure that the public doesn't have to foot the bill for this," she elaborated.

Many cities may have to pay for their new water systems by raising customers' rates. That possibility begs the question, what is safe water worth?

"At the end of the day, I think we all have to ask ourselves, what's more important, is it what would I be willing to pay for this treatment process in order to know that I'm not ingesting these chemicals or you know, is it better for me to have a lower water bill," Slater said.

Leaders of water systems have told WAAY 31 they're diligently working to fix the PFAS problem. We will provide updates as we get them.

"Right now the only plant we have that's under testing requirements through ADEM and EPA is our downtown wells and Lincoln Dallas Well where we have detected the PFAS, but we've got three years to comply, we will comply," said Joe Gerhdes, spokesman for Huntsville Utilities.

"We're seeking legal advice. We're looking at pilot testing of various products to see how effective they may be and we've stepped up our monitoring to monthly so we're testing at various places, locations to try to get a more definable baseline, " Elden Chumley said. Chumley is general manager of the Municipal Utilities Board for the City of Albertville.

"We're looking at doing some pilot studies, and we're consulting with an engineer who has looked at several different treatment processes like reverse osmosis. We're just trying to decide which is going to be the best route for us to take and which is also going to be the most cost efficient for us to take," Taylor Cole explained. Cole serves as manager of the City of Florence Water and Gas Department.

Additional Resources can be found HERE

 UPDATE: CLICK HERE TO LEARN WHERE WHERE TO GET YOUR WATER TESTED

UPDATE: 

WAAY 31 is working to hold public officials accountable after a lengthy investigation revealed more than 20 water providers in the region have or are now at risk of exposing people to polyfluoroalkyl also called PFAS. These are potentially deadly chemicals in drinking water.  The team contacted leaders of some the area's largest water utility companies again to learn what's being done to remove PFAS from the water.

Taylor Cole, the manager of the City of Florence Water Department said they've taken significant steps since the first interview with WAAY 31. For example, they've initiated a pilot study.

"We began last month. It's a six-month study involving granular activated carbon or GAC. We are currently underway with that to see what type of remedial treatment process will benefit us and of course if not we will move on from that and continue on with other pilot studies," Cole explained.

Cole said the water studies could cost about $470,000, but their residents will not have to pay more on utilities bills in order for them to complete the studies. 

The City of Florence Water Department's most recent PFAS test showed a total PFAS amount of 37.

"PFOA is 10 parts per trillion and PFOS was 14 parts per trillion, but we have a total of 37 parts per trillion and of course the maximum contaminant amount is 4 parts per trillion," Cole explained.

Officials at Huntsville Utilities are currently having discussions with consultants. 

"There's not much of an update. We continue to monitor our water. Our last test results show consistency in the presence of PFAS at two of our intakes and so we have to get prepared to treat that out because we don't want it in there," Spokesman Joe Gehrdes said.

We are talking with consultants about how we treat it out and those conversations take time we have quite a few years left to continue with the testing," Gehrdes added.

The process of removing PFAS from our water will be extremely expensive.

"One of the initial cost estimates that we had was 70 to 80 million dollars," Cole explained.

All of the water providers WAAY 31 talked to said they are committed to removing PFAS. They said their priority is to ensure clean and safe water for children and families to consume. They also want to solve the issue without raising rates, but it may necessary in some cases.

"We will comply and we want our customers to know that we are taking this very seriously. We've been monitoring for a couple of years now, " Joe Gehrdes said.

Getting 'forever chemicals' out of drinking water: Click here for EWG's guide to PFAS water filters