Read the full article by Brian Martucci (Minnesota Reformer)
“Hundreds of Minnesota lakes, rivers and creeks lie downstream of industrial sites where well sampling shows significant groundwater contamination.
In most of them, state agencies have yet to sample fish — or at least publish the results of completed tests — for PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals associated with a slew of adverse human health impacts.
That’s according to a suburban Twin Cities resident’s analysis of publicly available data from three state agencies, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Geological Survey.
The findings show nearly 1,000 lakes and about 4,200 river miles downstream of 93 named facilities where sample wells show concerning levels of PFAS contamination in groundwater. Most are closed landfills that operated during the mid- to late 20th century, when consumer and commercial products containing PFAS and other harmful chemicals were common and their impact less widely known or understood.
Last year, samples taken from at least 19 wells at the closed Gofer Landfill near Fairmont showed PFAS concentrations far in excess of human exposure thresholds set by the Minnesota Department of Health. One well had levels of PFOA — a PFAS chemical used in nonstick cookware and other common consumer products — 2.2 million times higher than the state health department’s benchmark for elevated lifetime cancer risk.”