DUNCAN –The Duncan Public Utilities Authority is joining a class-action lawsuit against the manufacturers and distributors of items containing polyfluoroalkyl substances, aqueous film-forming foams and other hazardous water contaminants that could affect the city’s water supply.
In a special April 4 meeting, the authority approved an agreement with Oklahoma Citybased law firms Fulmer Sill and McAfee and Taft to represent the city in the lawsuit, which was filed by other parties.
Polyfluoroalkyl substances are synthetic chemicals that can get into the water supply and could cause cancer, according to a fact sheet included in the PUA’s meeting packet. PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they do not break down naturally in the environment and have lengthy halflives in the human body, which means they will remain in the body for several years after exposure may have stopped.
Aqueous film-forming foams are used on fires that are difficult to fight with water alone, such as fuel fires. They contain water and other chemical elements, including PFAS.
A law firm first contacted Duncan officials about joining a PFAS-related lawsuit about a year ago, but the city declined, said City Attorney David Hammond.
“We didn’t get involved because PFAS – your numbers are higher if your water sources are from rivers and those types of things,” he said. “Our water supply is from lakes, and so you don’t have quite the exposure of PFAS contaminants.”
The public water systems that sued PFAS manufacturers 3M and DuPont have already resolved those cases, resulting in a $14 billion settlement, Hammond said. He added that other cases involve smaller companies that were waiting to see what happened in the cases against 3M and DuPont.
Duncan will be part off the second class of claimants, but the city’s claims had to be submitted by April 8. That was why the authority had a special meeting April 1 to approve the agreement with Fulmer Sill and McAfee and Taft.
The law firms’ fees will depend on the recovery of penalties, damages, attorneys’ fees and court costs, according to the agreement. Fees will be paid out of the recovered pot of money, not from the authority’s general fund or any special fund. Low levels Tests of the city’s water supply have shown low levels of PFAS-related contamination, compared to other public water systems, Hammond said. He added that there was no downside in joining the class-action lawsuit, because the city could use its share of any settlement dollars to comply with Environmental Protection Agency-imposed regulations on PFAS in public water systems.
“The EPA’s going to put restrictions in place to get rid of these contaminants,” Hammond said. “It’s going to cost money, so that money is used to pay for those costs.”
City Manager Chris Deal said tests of Duncan’s public water system have shown PFAS levels of one part per trillion – one part of the substance for every 1 trillion parts of water in which it is contained – which is extremely low. He added that the water is safe, and the city has taken steps to eliminate other types of contaminants in the water system. That includes trihalomethanes, which are chemical compounds created when chlorine reacts with natural organic material.
“We work on all those diligently,” Deal said. “This is just a stopgap measure in case there are other requirements for us to put more expensive filtration systems in.”