The cost of clean, healthy water will be felt going forward
Water is a resource Rome and Floyd County have always had in abundance, but the price of removing toxic chemicals dumped upstream will be increasing the price for locals to have access to clean, healthy water.
The Rome City Commission approved a cumulative 9% water rate hike in late February. There will be an additional 9% cumulative rate hike for four years which will then decrease to 3% for a period of six years ending in 2031.
The rate hike is to pay for a $99.4 million reverse osmosis system to filter harmful perfluorinated chemicals from the Oostanaula River. Rome’s water and sewer systems are funded by their customers, not general tax dollars which means that initial cost, alongside another $3.07 million annually in operating costs fall to taxpayers.
Perfluorinated chemicals — also known as PFAS or PFOAs — are part of a group of persistent industrial chemicals that have been dubbed “forever chemicals.” They’re used for nonstick coatings on cookware as well as carpets and other items for their ability to repel oil and water.
Alongside the existence of the chemicals in the Oostanaula, looming additional Environmental Protection Agency regulations are pushing the need forward.
The majority of the city’s water intakes are on the Oostanaula River. Since Rome was notified of the existence of the elevated presence of the chemicals, it has switched over to draw water from the Etowah River. It’s also using expensive temporary measures, such as granular activated carbon filters, to address the problem.
Legal action brings the possibility of mitigating some
of the cost of the reverse osmosis system, but that’s not likely any time soon.
THE LAWSUIT
A lawsuit filed in 2019 by the City of Rome against several chemical and carpet manufacturers primarily in the Dalton area, including 3M, Mohawk and Shaw Industries. In early January, commissioners agreed to let
the city attorney negotiate settlements with minor defendants, but the major claims are still working their way through the courts.
If the civil lawsuit schedule holds to a current scheduling order, the earliest the case could come to trial is February 2023, according to Rome City Attorney Andy Davis.
A ruling handed down in September allows the federal
lawsuit to continue against companies who have allegedly been dumping large quantities of toxic chemicals in the Oostanaula River.
The lawsuit, Johnson v. 3M, et. al., filed in the Northern District of Georgia federal court, accuses manufacturers in Dalton — including 3M, Mohawk, Shaw Industries and others — of dumping chemicals heavily used in carpet production in the river.
A lawsuit filed by the City of Rome in 2019 in Floyd County Superior Court makes many of the same claims. That lawsuit contends the companies
knew the perfluorinated compounds used in their manufacturing were toxic.
Those toxic chemical compounds, PFOA and PFOS, migrated downstream, causing issues in Floyd County and Chattooga County, among others.
U.S. District Court Judge Amy Totenberg denied the motions to dismiss, with the exception of some negligence claims, in a voluminous 180-page order.
“After rowing hard down the river of issues, the Court concludes that the majority of Plaintiff’s claims withstand
Defendants’ flood of motions to dismiss,” Totenberg wrote in the order’s conclusion.
In its lawsuit the city cited the extremely high cost of treating for the toxic chemicals as well as the fact that the chemicals don’t break down over time and accumulate in a person’s body with repeated exposure.
The existence of the chemicals has caused Rome switch over and draw water from the Etowah, where it has fewer intakes, as well as using expensive measures, such as granular activated carbon filters, to provide a safe but temporary answer to the problem.
“The Etowah River cannot sustain the long-term water needs of the city,” a statement that accompanied the city filing a 2019 lawsuit stated.
“Dalton, Georgia has been dubbed the ‘Carpet Capital of the World.’ But Dalton’s carpet commerce, according to Plaintiff, has resulted in serious harm to individuals that live in the surrounding area because certain chemicals heavily used in carpet production, PFAS, are both toxic and everlasting,” Judge Totenberg wrote in the order’s summary. “(The) plaintiff alleges that the numerous defendants here — who are chemical suppliers, carpet manufacturers, intermediaries, the City of Dalton, Dalton Utilities and the Dalton Whitfield Sold Waste Authority — have contributed to or caused the discharge of these chemicals into North Georgia.”
The order’s summary continued, “as a result, the discharged chemicals have contaminated water supplies downstream of Dalton, specifically the water supplies for the City of Rome and Floyd County, thereby injuring (the) plaintiff and others similarly situated.”
While Dalton isn’t named in the Rome lawsuit the ruling in federal court will likely hold weight in the local filing.