Read the full article by Danielle Kaeding (WPR)
On a warm spring day, Kayla Furton sat on the porch of her childhood home in the Town of Peshtigo just off Shore Drive overlooking Green Bay. The property has been in her family for decades, and to her it’s more than just a house.
‘It’s the history — the land we grew up on,” said Furton. “It’s been so fun swimming in the bay with the kids and the playhouse that we have is the same playhouse I played in growing up.’
The mother of three and her husband Dean bought the home from her parents when they moved back to the area in 2016. Just a couple of years later, they learned their home was one of many in the area that have been affected by PFAS contamination.
‘I fear that we don’t even know the full extent of the impact on the community and really, especially, on the kids,’ she said.
Furton and around 140 other residents in the corner of northeastern Wisconsin have been drinking bottled water for years due to PFAS pollution of private wells. The contamination stems from the use of firefighting foam that contained the chemicals at Tyco Fire Products’ fire training facility in Marinette.
Residents knew little about PFAS when the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources directed the company to investigate in the fall of 2017. Several years later, they’re no closer to a permanent source of clean, safe drinking water.
‘It shouldn’t be a normal part of life that the water coming into your home isn’t safe,’ said Furton.”…