Galesburg residents are receiving notices this week that the level of perfluorooctanoic acid in the city’s water system is slightly above new state groundwater standards.
Officials say it’s no reason to panic, as Galesburg’s water quality has improved since 2021, when initial draft guidelines for PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” were issued by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
City Manager Eric Hanson said the city is taking the necessary steps to get into compliance and has already made a “tremendous” amount of progress reducing PFAS contaminants.
“Out of the six types of PFAS, five of them we have zero, and one we’re just slightly out of compliance,” Hanson said. “They give us five years. Our goal is to be in compliance much sooner than that.”
Four years ago, two samples from the city’s water treatment plant, taken in late 2020 as part of the Illinois EPA’s statewide study, exceeded draft guidance level for perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, which is one subset of PFAS.
PFAS are called forever chemicals because they do not break down easily in the environment or the human body. They’re found in nonstick cookware, firefighting foam, cleaning products, and food packaging, and they can contaminate water sources.
Hanson said the city has been proactively working to reduce PFOA, with quarterly testing and making it a priority to use wells with lower PFOA concentrations. In 2020, PFOA concentrations detected in the city’s water system were 12 parts per trillion. The current level is down to 5.9 parts per trillion, which is still above the maximum contaminant level of 4 parts per trillion.
“The reason you're getting a letter is because the law requires us to do so. But please know from a water quality standpoint, the city is actively working on that challenge,” Hanson said at Monday’s city council meeting, equating the situation to lead water lines. “You all were the poster child for lead lines in the country. All of our lead lines have been replaced. Some communities haven't even started. And we want to take the same approach with PFAS.”
The city is pursuing long-term solutions to completely eliminate PFOA in the water supply.
A pilot study has been initiated to evaluate various treatment options, including their effectiveness and cost of implementation.
In addition, test wells will be drilled near the Oquawka water treatment plant, further away from the suspected PFOA source in the Mississippi River, to see if those locations can provide a sustainable water source with no detected PFAS.
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