York Sewer District sues PFAS makers for polluting wastewater plant

YORK, Maine — The York Sewer District has filed a lawsuit against several corporations it alleges are responsible for PFAS pollution in the town's Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The district announced its lawsuit Tuesday against 3M Company, DuPont de Nemours, Inc., and other manufacturers of PFAS. The chemicals are found in household materials like Teflon that in recent years have drawn concern for their impact on human health.

The district filed the suit in partnership with SL Environmental Law Group, which focuses exclusively on water contamination litigation on behalf of city and state governments, water utilities and well owners. The firm has delivered over $1.2 billion from corporate polluters to their clients, according to a press release from the York Sewer District.

“Like so many across the state of Maine, York Sewer District is concerned about the impact of these chemicals on our health, infrastructure, and finances,” York Sewer Superintendent Phil Tucker said. “Therefore, we thought it critical to partner with SL Environmental on this unprecedented matter.”

Similar lawsuits against PFAS makers filed across the country

PFAS, short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products since the 1950s, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The chemicals have been the subject of increasing scrutiny for their health effects after being discovered in local drinking sources around the country, including nearby in the New Hampshire Seacoast. That has led to more stringent state and federal regulations on water quality and companies no longer using the chemicals.

3M, based in St. Paul, Minnesota and one of the targeted companies in the lawsuit filed by the York Sewer District, has said it will stop producing the chemical between 2023 and 2025. Also, a defendant in the lawsuit is DuPont de Nemours, which states on its website that it uses “limited” PFAS.

The York Sewer District is not the first municipal entity to sue 3M and DuPont over PFAS, known as “forever chemicals.” The companies were sued by several states, including Maine and New Hampshire, in June of this year over the chemicals, leading to a $10.3 billion settlement.

PFAS contamination at YorkWastewater Treatment Plant

Tucker, York's sewer superintendent, said the suit was filed following testing at the York Wastewater Treatment Plant that showed PFAS was found in its wastewater effluent and biosolids. He said the chemicals typically enter their sewer system by being flushed down the toilet and through dishwashers that clean pans and dishes that contain PFAS.

He said the impact of the chemicals on the town increased when the state of Maine banned the land application, or spreading in soil, of biosolids to limit PFAS contamination. Previously, he said a company would pick up the biosolids from the York Sewer District and use them to make soil.

“That all ended with LD 1911,” Tucker said, referring to the legislation that ended the practice.

Tucker said the district is now required to bring biosolids to a landfill, which brought their disposal costs up from about $150,000 to $300,000.

Tucker said the Sewer District does not criticize lawmakers for passing the law but rather blames companies like 3M that have produced the products throughout the years. He said York is fortunate not to have a source of PFAS contaminating local drinking water. Still, he said, it's clear the household items produced with PFAS have resulted in contamination at the Wastewater Treatment Plant.

“The state acted how it thought it needed to protect our environment,” Tucker said. “It's the manufacturers who knew these chemicals were dangerous.”