“The city of Lake Elmo has issued an alert after finding heightened levels of perfluorochemicals (PFCs) in one of its water towers and one of its wells
In an announcement Tuesday, the city said it would be taking the city’s well No.1 and water tower No. 1 offline after receiving the information about PFC levels from the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH).
In order to compensate for the loss of the tower and well, the city will increase pressure from its No. 2 and 4 towers to ensure water supplies to homes and emergency services continue as usual.
The move prompted the city to issue a CodeRED Alert, KSTP reports.
Taking the two facilities offline will also allow the city to flush its water system, officials said, noting that some residents had recently complained of having brown water in their homes…
PFOA is commonly found in contaminated groundwater in the Lake Elmo area, with MDH saying the levels in water supplies were at 45 ppt (parts per trillion) and the recommended MDH Health Based Value is 35 ppt.
It told Lake Elmo of the finding and will be issuing ‘Notice of Health Advisory’ to the city in the coming days, which follows three similar notices being issued to nearby Oakdale, Cottage Grove and Woodbury last year.
‘No additional actions on the part of residents will be needed,’ MDH spokesman Doug Schultz said. ‘The city administrator told us that if a serious drought occurs this summer the city may need to employ additional restrictions on water use.'”
Read the full article by Adam Uren.