The safety of drinking water in much of Washington County has been thrown into doubt by a report from state health officials.
The Minnesota Department of Health on Tuesday announced new limits for water-borne pollutants made by the 3M Co. — guidelines that are twice as tough as federal limits.
Wells in Woodbury, Oakdale, Lake Elmo, Cottage Grove, St. Paul Park and Bemidji now have pollution levels considered too high by the new guidelines.
Cottage Grove imposed emergency water restrictions on Tuesday to allow the city to shut down polluted wells. The city’s drinking water will be supplied by wells considered safe, according to spokeswoman Sharon Madsen.
“There is no public health threat,” she said.
The new guidelines also mean that 120 private wells in Washington County are now considered unsafe.
In a conference call, state officials said the new health advisory guidelines are:
- 35 parts per trillion for PFOA, or perfluoro-octanoic acid.
- 27 parts per trillion for PFOS, or perfluoro-octanesulfonic acid.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency researched the impact of the same chemicals last year. It specifically said it found a level that was safe for fetuses during pregnancy and breastfed infants.
That level was 70 ppt — twice as much as the new Minnesota limits.
Minnesota officials explained there was no new research that justified the switch. Rather, they said, they and the EPA have interpreted the same studies differently.
Officials said the EPA underestimated the volume of water that an infant can drink — and the pollution that could be ingested. They said they wanted to be ultra-careful about the potential harm to babies.
“We focused very narrowly” on the impact on babies, said department program manager Jim Kelly. “We took it one step farther.”
The tough new limits are consistent with guidelines in other states, said Kelly, who cited PFOA limits of 40 ppt imposed by New Jersey and 20 ppt by Vermont.
CITIES REACT
State Health Department Commissioner Edward Ehlinger added that some communities may have to shut down polluted city wells — which would mean less available water. That could lead to imposing emergency water restrictions, he said.
By noon Tuesday, Cottage Grove had already done that.
The city banned the watering of lawns and gardens, as well as washing cars and other exterior uses. Water at the city’s splash pad and a city fountain has been shut off.
In Woodbury, four of the city’s 19 wells have pollution levels that are now too high.
But city administrator Clint Gridley said that water from all wells is blended — so water piped into homes is safe, even with the new guidelines.
He winced at the suggestion that the four wells might have to be shut down. “For us to put four wells aside is a loss of many millions that the public has paid,” Gridley said.
Already, city officials are worrying about the cost of extra wells, filtration systems and water pipes to adjust to the new guidelines. It isn’t yet known how much the long-term fixes will cost or who will pay.
“Our expectation is to seek to recover those costs from 3M,” said Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Commissioner John Linc Stine.
3M’s response came in the form of two emails.
“Like others in the community, we are pleased to see that the state recognizes that drinking water with PFOA or PFOS, even at levels above the new values, does not represent an immediate health risk,” wrote 3M attorney William A. Brewer III.
3M medical director Dr. Carol Ley wrote that there was no justification for Minnesota’s new standards.
“The EPA advised just last year that a lifetime of consuming water containing 70 parts per trillion for either PFOA or PFOS, or the sum of the two, does not pose risk to human health and the level is, in fact, protective of all populations” — including fetuses and babies.
THE HISTORY
3M started making the chemicals in the 1940s for use in manufacturing Teflon, fire-extinguishing foam and stain repellent. 3M dumped the chemicals into landfills in Washington County, which was legal at the time.
In the 1990s, traces of the chemicals began to show up in animals and humans around the world.
The company stopped making them in 2002. In 2004, traces of the chemicals were discovered in a swath of groundwater from Oakdale to Hastings, affecting about 65,000 residents. The chemicals in Bemidji have been traced to a firefighters training facility where the foam was used.
The chemicals worry some health experts, because mega-doses have been shown to cause cancer, birth defects and thyroid problems in mice.
3M has spent millions of dollars installing filters in east-metro municipal water systems and in cleaning the chemicals out of groundwater.
But 3M has said for years that the chemicals have never been proven to cause harm to humans — at any level.
The parts-per-trillion quantities in the environment are too low to worry about, 3M officials have said. For perspective, a trillion seconds is 33,000 years.
That argument seemed to get a sympathetic ear from Woodbury administrator Gridley.
At first, he said, the hazardous levels were measured in parts per million. “Then it was parts per billion and now parts per trillion.
“Who knows what the next one will be?”
TO LEARN MORE
- What: The Minnesota Department of Health and Pollution Control Agency will provide information about chemicals in drinking water.
- When: 6 to 8:30 p.m. June 6 and June 7
- Where: June 6 at Oak-Land Junior High in Lake Elmo, 820 N. Manning Ave.; and June 7 at Cottage Grove City Hall, 12800 S. Ravine Parkway.