The City of Hastings has a pair of environmental investigations in process to determine the source of the PFAS contamination in the city drinking water.
The city is working with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency to determine the source of the PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a diverse group of chemicals used in manufacturing hundreds of products.
The Hastings City Council held a workshop meeting prior to the regular city council meeting Monday night to talk about the PFAS fight. Hastings plans to build three water treatment plants to tie into its wells and the Hastings Veterans Home to filter out PFAS contamination and nitrates. The cost of the project is $68.9 million.
“The project is currently being designed through a grant,” City Administrator Dan Wietecha told the council. “But for the money, the project is shovel ready. If we were to break ground this summer 2024, it would be completed in late 2027.”
PFAS contamination is present in all six of the city municipal wells. More stringent Environmental Protection Agency standards are expected to be put in place this spring, which gives the city three years to “mitigate” the contamination from the city drinking water supply.
The Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Pollution Control will hold a public meeting in Hastings within the first month when that official EPA guidance becomes official.
Wietecha said there will be a “PFAS Update” on the council agenda its first meeting of every month to keep the community informed.
In addition to PFAS in the city wells, the private well at the Hastings Veterans Home also is contaminated with PFAS exceeding the draft EPA limit.
“Our project is designed to interconnect the city water supply to the Veterans Home to deliver safe drinking water for its residents and employees,” said Wietecha.
With funding as the big question, the city has been working with state lawmakers. Both Sen. Judy Seeberger (Districts 41) and Rep. Shane Hudella (District 41-B) are supporting the city and have introduced legislation.
“The city has submitted PFAS Treatment and Raw Water Lines for consideration in the state’s 2024 Capital Budget due to the budget-busting expense, the fact that the treatment is to remove contamination/pollution caused by others, and the suddenness of new regulations preventing financial planning,” Wietecha told the council. “Since before the session, we have met with several key legislators and the governor’s office to advocate for funding. We have repeatedly been told that the project should be reduced in scale (for example, by phasing it as one plant per year for three years) and potentially have additional financial contribution from the city.”
The city council last month approved a contract with lobbyist Margaret Vesel of Larkin-Hoffman to help work with lawmakers.
“We intend to continue meeting with elected officials and staff through the end of session in late May (the State Bonding Bill is typically at the end of session),” said Wietecha.
The city is looking to all options to funding and tracing the source of the PFAS should be key to that. The PFAs remediation project has been submitted for the State’s Drinking Water Revolving Fund Project Priority List and expects to be ranked near the top of the list there. It could yield $3-$9 million depending on if the project is broken into three phases.
“Federal earmarks may be also an option to close a gap or fund a portion of the project,” said Wietecha.
Wietecha said the Phase I and Phase II environmental site assessments “are showing promise.”
“The Phase 1 ESA found a proprietary compound HQ-115/TFSI produced at 3M-Cottage Grove in one of the Hastings municipal wells,” according to Wietecha. “Updated mapping of the Minnesota Geologic Survey shows faults in the bedrock under the Mississippi River. The Phase II ESA is ongoing.”
The MPCA has asked 3M to model its discharge in the Hastings area.
“3M’s modeling is scheduled for completion at the ed of March, and we anticipate review of its results and meeting with MPCA and 3M by mid/late April,” according to Wietecha.
If the PFAS is traceable to 3M’s Cottage Grove facility, the city likely could tap into several settlement funds that other nearby communities affected by PFAS contamination from the firm have.
