Local CBS affiliate WCCO is reporting that the water has become undrinkable in portions of Washington County, which is to the east of the Twin Cities, due to leakage from a landfill:
Dozens of homeowners in Washington County are being told not to drink their well water. The Minnesota Department of Health says well water at about 80 homes contains concerning levels of man-made pollutants called PFCs, which are often found in firefighting foam.
Years ago, 3M used the chemicals at their Woodbury, Oakdale and Cottage Grove sites and legally disposed of them at the Lake Elmo landfill. From there, the pollutants leaked into ground water.
“We never drink the well water,” said Terry Hickey.
Hickey said there is a lot to like about his Lake Elmo neighborhood. But when it comes to his well water, he’ll use it for everything but drinking.
“Ever since we found out about it, we get bottled water,” said Hickey.
And the homeowners will be provided bottled water, partially by 3M.
This isn’t so much condemnatory as emblematic of the future that will be faced by many in the United States in the future as landfills containing noxious chemical degrade1 and begin leaking. Cleaning these landfills will no doubt be expensive – and time consuming, not only due to the difficulties, but because leaching into aquifers may take years, so cleaning those aquifers will take at least as many years, simply as a result of the physics of the matter – unless we find ways to force-flush cleansers through the earth and into the aquifers, since the pathway to the aquifer also needs cleansing.
This will be a sobering time, and while opportunity will arise because of this unfortunate situation, it’s going to be mostly about the cost and dangers of our previous polluting ways, whether it’s here in relatively clean Minnesota, or out in some manufacturing city.
The truly frustrating part will be the continued pollution by those who don’t wish to acknowledge their responsibility, who still want to be pollute as did their forefathers – and don’t understand that the far greater population density. Perhaps they should have to take a course in conscious capitalism.
