WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI (WSAU) — Wisconsin Rapids Mayor Shane Blaser says his city has been proactive in testing for PFAS in their municipal water wells, but he’s still keeping an eye on what’s happening in Wausau in case there would be a need for them to take action.
“We like to use other communities as resources,” said Blaser. “We don’t want to try something that’s already been tried before. [So] with Wausau trying to address this issue we will be watching to kind of see how that’s done, and in the future should it become an issue for us we will know how to attack it.”
Blaser says the city did voluntary testing on all of its wells last year and found no exceedances, but couldn’t provide specific numbers. Current EPA recommendations call for under 70 parts per trillion (PPT), while the Wisconsin DNR is considering a threshold of 20 PPT at their meeting later this week. Should the DNR pass that number, it would need approval from lawmakers before going to Governor Evers.
Blaser says the other key in situations like this is to stay ready for change. PFAS, or forever chemicals, are considered an emerging contaminate and there is still a lot about them that we don’t know. “You just never know what a new requirement or emergence will be. You might have to do an addition, bring in a new type of filter, it’s just good to have some room and thought into that future planning.”
Blaser emphasized that Wisconsin Rapids’ water is very safe to drink. “We are not exceeding any standards for PFAS levels, and we are going to continue to monitor them.”
Wausau announced earlier this month that all six of their municipal wells tested positive for levels of PFAS above 20 PPT. City leaders are still mulling over how to handle the situation in both the short and long term, with the goal of finding a filtration system that will allow the new drinking water treatment plant to distribute water that’s below the proposed DNR standard.
Earlier this year Rib Mountain announced that they had shut down one of their municipal wells due to elevated levels of PFAS. Their remaining wells were under the proposed standard.
Weston will also be doing a voluntary test of their wells, with results to be made public in the coming weeks.
Other topics Blaser discussed with WSAU’s Mike Leischner include:
Start of video- Proposal for municipal transportation utility fee to replace special assessments
8:30- PFAS discussion
13:23- 90th anniversary of the Centralia Center
