Officials with the Rib Mountain Sanitary District have detected elevated levels of per- and polyfluoralkyl substances (PFAS) in one of their water wells.
The water well in Rib Mountain, Wisconsin, is now offline, reported WSAU News.
“Rib Mountain residents and businesses can safely continue to use and drink from the water supply as normal,” said Sanitary District Director Michael Heyroth, reported WSAU News. “Upon receiving the test results, we immediately shut off well #1 and we are only using water from our other wells.”
The Sanitary District is not in violation of any current DNR standards or regulations and the Sanitary District and Marathon County Health Department have not detected any health issues related to the PFAS contamination from well #1. This well is located near the Sanitary District building on Lilac Avenue.
According to Heyroth, there is no obvious source of the contamination.
Testing was conducted on four wells as part of planning for a new water treatment plant. Only well #1 showed unsafe levels of PFAS, and the three other wells also showed small levels of PFAS, reported WSAU News.
Officials with the DHS confirmed that the town is cooperating in the investigation during a press briefing, reported WSAU News. Additionally testing on all four wells will be conducted to monitor for more concerns
“The water is safe, and we have taken that well offline,” added Heyroth. “We are doing this out of an abundance of caution. We want to make sure that water is not going out in the system anymore so people can continue to use the water as they would normally.”
The town has a website with information for customers, which includes test results and information on filtration systems.
