Thursday, August 8, 2024–11:35 a.m.
-Blake Silvers, Calhoun Times-
This story is possible because of a news-sharing agreement with the Rome News-Tribune. More information can be found at northwestgeorgianews.com
A consent decree filed in a federal district court Thursday settled a recent water pollution case between the City of Calhoun and a pair of environmental groups.
Represented by the Southern Environmental Law Center, regional watchdog Coosa River Basin Initiative agreed to resolve a federal lawsuit that alleged the city allowed per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, better known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” in its drinking water supply.
If approved by the court, the agreement includes a multilayered plan going forward. The first portion is a plan to overhaul the city’s wastewater treatment plant pretreatment program to regulate PFAS thought to be associated with area industries. The second would be to conduct an extensive residential drinking water well investigation and remedy for qualified residents. The plan also requires that the city upgrade its drinking water plants to effectively remove the chemicals in the public water supply.
“This has always been about clean water,” Jesse Demonbreun-Chapman, executive director and Riverkeeper at CRBI. “Healthy rivers and clean drinking water aren’t a luxury — they are a necessity. When we uncovered the threat posed to this community’s watershed by these unrestricted toxic industrial chemicals, CRBI had little choice but to step in when others would not. The continued success of the region depends on striking that healthy balance between a thriving industry, and clean, safe water resources that our communities rely on.”
PFAS are a class of thousands of synthetic chemicals that includes PFOA and PFOS and are known to be toxic and associated with serious health impacts. An issue is that they do not dissipate, dissolve or dissolve and stay in water, soil, and the human body for many years. Research that shows a link between PFAS exposure and public health risks, including liver cancer, testicular cancer, liver damage and thyroid disease.
“By uncovering this problem and ultimately bringing suit to address it, this settlement delivers on the promise of what our environmental laws are intended to achieve,” SELC Senior Attorney Chris Bowers said. “Families should not be exposed to toxic industrial chemicals in their drinking water because of industry failures to adequately monitor for and treat their wastewater, and public wastewater systems should not sit idly by and allow that to continue. Under this Consent Decree, Calhoun is rolling up its sleeves and getting to work on the problem. Others must follow.”
The Environmental Protection Agency in April of this year set maximum contaminant levels for forever chemicals at four parts per trillion, with a maximum contaminant level goal of zero because of the potential health risks.
“This case marks a turning point for Georgia on PFAS wastewater treatment and regulation, showing how our environmental laws are supposed to work, and what can happen when they aren’t properly enforced,” SELC Senior Attorney Jamie Whitlock said. “This settlement shows that if wastewater plants can effectively control PFAS pollution in one of the most impacted communities in Georgia, they can do the same everywhere.”
SELC attorneys view the agreement with Calhoun as an example to other municipalities in how to tackle their own PFAS issues.
“If a city in the heart of the nation’s carpet industry can agree to a plan to limit PFAS pollution, anyone can,” SELC Senior Attorney Hutton Brown said. “This settlement marks an important step forward in meaningfully controlling these forever chemicals and is an investment towards the long-term health of Calhoun families for generations to come.”
How we got here
In early July, the Calhoun City Council unanimously approved the agreement to resolve the 75-page lawsuit originally filed in March that demanded large fines to be levied against the city and Moss Land Company as laid out in the Federal Clean Water Act — an amount not to exceed $66,712 per day. That lawsuit came after the city was given a notice of intent to file suit in September 2023.
As previously reported, the Moss Land Company then filed suit against the city in response. Moss contends that the city had been dumping waste from the water treatment plant on their land for disposal for years. According to the suit, the waste was contaminated by forever chemicals because the City of Calhoun processes wastewater from manufacturers that contain PFAS.
That suit claimed the city had dumped over 28,000 tons of the contaminated sludge on part of their property in Sludge Field 11, which is directly next to the Coosa River and upstream of the city’s main drinking water intake. The suit also claimed that they were not aware of the fact that the waste was contaminated, and requested for the city to handle cleanup costs.
Over the past several months, the city has taken several measures aimed at reducing the amount of detectable PFAS levels in the water supply with the implementation of granular carbon filter installation at both the Mauldin Road and Brittany Drive treatment plants. Calhoun has also provided free water supply hookups to those with contaminated well as well as opened a free drinking water supply station at the Brittany Drive facility. The city has also been working with an engineering firm to test several pilot programs as part of a long-term plan for future water filtration.
Even with steps taken, citizens have expressed concerns with the PFAS situation, namely a group called “Calhoun: Water Matters” that has over 1,400 members in a Facebook group, and regularly has members attend council meetings.
In May, Atlanta-based law firm Timberlake, League and Brooks filed a lawsuit on behalf of a number of residents seeking compensation from numerous defendants for “loss of property value and other damages resulting from PFAS contamination.” The firm says it continues to investigate claims for illness related to PFAS ingestion and exposure.
After the CRBI suit was filed, the city pushed back, claiming the blame should be placed on flooring companies such as Mohawk Industries and Shaw, and also pointed the finger at large chemical companies like 3M, Chemours, DuPont, and others. Calhoun is seeking damages and looks to recover attorneys fees incurred during litigation, as well as a court order to halt future forever chemical contamination in the area. Those companies settled a similar lawsuit with the City of Rome for over $185 million earlier this year.
What now?
So what does the settlement mean for the City of Calhoun going forward? Proposed settlement terms will include the following:
- Wastewater treatment overhaul — An independent monitor will be designated to oversee a PFAS investigation of the wastewater plant, and the city will implement agreed-to changes which will modernize Calhoun’s industrial pretreatment program in line with EPA PFAS guidance, transforming it into a leader in PFAS pretreatment regulation by publicly owned treatment works.
- Residential well survey and remedial action for affected residents — Residents with private drinking water wells within 2 miles of designated sludge land application sites will qualify for free PFAS testing, with notices to be sent by mail. Depending on the sampling results, residents will be eligible to have their homes connected to the municipal water system free of charge or have a point of entry home filter system installed and operated for free for up to 10 years, subject to certain conditions.
- Injunction to upgrade both drinking water plants — The city will be required to continue interim emergency water treatment measures to reduce PFAS in the public water supply, provide more transparency to the public, and make all reasonable efforts to recover costs necessary to upgrade both of its drinking water treatment facilities to meet MCLs and effectively reduce PFAS from third parties.
- Sludge field remedial injunction — The Consent Decree will include an injunction to cease sludge land application near rivers and water treatment plant source waters, and order the city to make all reasonable efforts to recover costs necessary to reduce or eliminate PFAS discharges from the main sludge field that is contaminating Calhoun’s drinking water supply on the Coosawattee River from third parties.
City officials now offer online updates regarding PFAS at cityofcalhoun-ga.com/pfas-information/ online. SELC also has information about Calhoun’s PFAS case at southernenvironment.org online.