A pair of meetings to inform the public were conducted on June 6th in Lake Elmo and on June 7th in Cottage Grove. At issue was the recent revision of acceptable levels of PFOS and PFOA content in drinking water that is considered safe. The compounds were attributed to manufacturing done by 3M over many years, with disposal of byproducts the suggested origin of such contaminents. Representatives from The Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Pollution Control Agency and each community provided a forum to share information on updates following the release on May 23rd that safe levels of these contaminents would be lowered significantly, causing concern for city water customers as well as private well owners. KDWA attended the Cottage Grove meeting where nearly 100 residents gathered to garner more details on the safety, availability and future of their water. Representative for District 54A Keith Franke noted the timing and delivery of the news caused concern for communities surrounding 3M production facilities.
The Minnesota Pollution control Agency representative Gary Kruger was asked why the levels were revised.
More on the city response and plans for water treatment within the City of Cottage Grove in our next newscast.
