The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has published a new report finding that technologies needed to remove PFAS from wastewater streams across Minnesota would cost between $14 and $28B over 20 years. The study, Evaluation of Current Alternatives and Estimated Cost Curves for PFAS Removal and Destruction from Municipal Wastewater, Biosolids, Landfill Leachate, and Compost Contact Water, is the first of its kind. Although the report is specific to Minnesota, the novel methods developed to estimate costs can be applied anywhere.
“The exorbitant costs associated with removing PFAS from community wastewater systems underscores the need to address PFAS pollution long before it gets into the waste stream,” says MPCA Commissioner Katrina Kessler. “At no fault of their own, wastewater treatment facilities receive PFAS from a variety of sources, and they cannot carry the burden of cleaning up the pollution. We must all focus on preventing PFAS from entering the environment in the first place.”
The study was commissioned by the MPCA as part of Minnesota’s PFAS Blueprint, a comprehensive interagency plan to prevent, manage, and clean up PFAS pollution.
