Lake Elmo City Council — Transcript
Saturday, April 12, 2025
PFAS Contamination and Health Impacts
PFAS Remediation and Settlement Funding
Private Well Sampling and Treatment Program
Municipal Water System Plans for Lake Elmo
Votes (6)
Lake Elmo Municipal Well 2 PFAS Treatment Project
Well number two, one of Lake Elmo's three current municipal wells, has detected PFOA levels above the new EPA regulatory limit. The city has reduced its use to only peak summer days. A feasibility study, funded by the 3M settlement, confirmed treatment is feasible. The project is now in the design phase for a Granulated Activated Carbon (GAC) treatment facility, which will require modifying the wellhouse building to accommodate 15-foot pressure filters. The goal is to have the facility operational before the peak summer demands of 2025.
Lake Elmo New Municipal Wells 6 & 7 Development with Treatment
Due to ongoing community growth and the contamination in existing wells, Lake Elmo needs to add new municipal wells. The previous plan to locate these wells in the northern part of the city has been abandoned. New wells (Wells 6 and 7) are now planned for the South area, where much of the city's growth is occurring. These new wells will pump directly to a new central water treatment plant, utilizing either GAC or ion exchange filtration, before the water enters the distribution system. The objective is to have this new system operational by Spring 2027.
Lake Elmo Municipal Wells 4 & 5 Contingency Treatment Plan
While current testing shows only traces of PFAS in Lake Elmo's municipal Wells 4 and 5, not yet exceeding treatment thresholds, the city has developed a contingency plan. This plan involves putting another treatment plant at the location of Well 5, with a raw water line to combine and treat water from both Wells 4 and 5. This prepares the city for potential future contamination increases in these wells.
State Private Well Sampling and Treatment Program in East Metro (including Lake Elmo)
The MPCA is actively managing over 7,000 private wells in the East Metro, having sampled over half. Roughly 1,500 private well advisories have been issued, leading to the installation of nearly 1,200 Point-of-Entry Treatment (POET) systems and 393 home connections to municipal water. Recent lowering of health-based values in January 2024 immediately triggered 650 new advisories and necessitates resampling for 1,300 residential wells using a new, more sensitive methodology. Lake Elmo accounts for 234 of these new advisories. The program faces challenges including staff turnover and delays in results, but efforts are underway to increase resources and lab capacity to address the backlog.
State Public Water Supply Regulation and Compliance
The EPA's Safe Drinking Water Act now includes enforceable standards (Maximum Contaminant Levels, MCLs) for PFAS, effective April 2024. Minnesota has been proactive, conducting statewide PFAS testing since 2021, ahead of federal regulations. Lake Elmo's Well 2 and both wells in Cimarron Park have PFOA/PFOS levels exceeding these new regulatory limits. Public water systems are required to test, inform the public (via Consumer Confidence Reports), and take action. Systems have until 2029 to achieve compliance, and the state is actively working with water systems, leveraging settlement funding, to implement necessary treatments such as reverse osmosis, ion exchange, or granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration. The MDH also provides public resources like an interactive PFAS dashboard and guidance on home treatment options.
Status of 3M Settlement Funding and Neighborhood Municipal Connections
The $850 million 3M settlement, achieved in 2018 for natural resources damages, has been the primary funding source for PFAS remediation efforts, with 'Priority One' being safe and sustainable drinking water. However, these funds are projected to run out in the next few years. In light of this, the program for connecting existing neighborhoods with high concentrations of private well advisories to the municipal water system, which has successfully connected 292 properties since 2018, has been paused. Future planned connections for neighborhoods like Homestead and Packard Park Eden Park are now delayed or potentially canceled. The state is developing a transition plan to shift future project funding and management to the 2007 Consent Decree with 3M, which does not have a cap limit, but will require a new approval process for projects.
Notable Quotes (11)
as Lucas just presented we now have the contamination in well to and we have to provide treatment for that well or just continue uh using using the water
We're just entering in design and construction the idea is to put ax past treatment facility constructed on well number two and then we're hoping to have that online before those Peak summer demands in 2025
we're no longer going to look at the northern part of the city uh to construct those Wells we're coming down into the South area where most of the growth is anyway
these wells will pump directly both of them will pump directly to a water treatment plant and will and it'll either be a Gak filter uh system or it'll be a a and an exchange filter system but the water will be treated and then pumped into the distribution system
if and when the time comes that we need uh to address these two Wells with treatment we can put another treatment plant in this location and do a raw water line to combine these two Wells and bring those two Wells to a North treatment plant
in Lake Elmo there are uh 1300 roughly 1300 private drinking water wells uh 694 Wells have been sampled uh there's been 252 of those uh point of entry treatment systems installed and 230 homes have been connected to Municipal Water
that means that right away we know that 650 Wells um that didn't previously have an advisory would be triggered into the um well advisory status and then 1300 residential Wells need to be resampled using that new methodology that can that can test to the lower level
posos now have as of April of this year have enforcable standards that Public Water Supplies will need to meet in the future those enforcement standards include what's called maximum contaminant levels or mcls
the rule requires within f after 5 years of implementation so 2029 is the point at which the Water Systems would receive an actual violation of this rule
the uh money will be running out we are working with the trustees this fund has been managed uh via a settlement with trustees and we anticipate it's going to run out of the next few years after that the um we have transition to a consent decree that THM had signed with the state in 2007
we've recently been informed that that that program is paused so we don't know what that means yet that's very new information to us but there's going to be a delay at the very least in this whether this this program continues to happen or not
Ordinances & Resolutions (9)
State requirements memorialized on 3M for sampling and work at disposal sites; framework for future actions after settlement funds deplete.
Claim filed in 2010 by the state against 3M for environmental injuries, leading to the $850 million settlement.
Finished in 2021, focuses on providing safe and sustainable drinking water for 14 impacted communities, including sampling and allocation of capital/O&M dollars, designed to be flexible and resilient.
Legislation going into effect next year in Minnesota that will prohibit PFAS in some goods sold, aiming to reduce overall exposure.
Federal regulation governing public water supplies; PFAS was added to this regulation with enforceable standards (MCLs) in April 2024.
Contains requirements and enforceable limits that Public Water Supplies need to meet under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
City of Lake Elmo's comprehensive plan guiding growth and infrastructure, including previous plans for adding municipal wells.
City of Lake Elmo's plan for infrastructure projects, which included extending municipal water to certain neighborhoods.
A specific plan that approved certain Lake Elmo neighborhoods for municipal water connections based on cost-effectiveness metrics.