pixabay.com | A bulldozer is sitting in a pile of garbage / A bulldozer in a pile of trash / Work-related public domain stock photo. | https://picryl.com/media/compactor-landfill-grader-industry-craft-3598c1 | Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication license | https://web.archive.org/web/20161229043156/https://pixabay.com/en/service/terms/
On March 18, 2021, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) found that nearly every landfill that state regulators monitor in Minnesota has leaked perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, into groundwater sources.
Officials say these “forever chemicals” have been identified in groundwater sources near 98 of the 101 landfills recently tested by the MPCA. Fifty-nine of them were found to have caused contamination at levels above what is considered safe to drink. Another 15 were linked to contaminations of levels 15 times above Minnesota’s health-based values for drinking water of 15ppt for PFOS, 35ppt PFOA, 47ppt PFHxS, 2,000ppt PFBS, and 7,000ppt PFBA.
The MPCA is seeking approval from the Minnesota Legislature to tap into a special fund backed mostly by Minnesota taxpayers to attempt to remedy the PFAS issue.