Wausau Mayor Says the City is Making Progress on Finding a Solution to PFAS Contamination

Monday, April 11th, 2022 -- 12:01 PM

(Mike Leischner, WSAU) Wausau Mayor Katie Rosenberg says the city is starting to make progress on finding a solution to PFAS contamination.

“So, we want to replicate it and make sure it’s doing what we said it’s doing. And not just replication, but on that large scale, it needs to work too.” But she says that isn't cause for celebration just yet, as they also need to figure out if those solutions will work in bulk.

“Probably the big one that we’ve been talking about is the anti-corrosion treatment that we do to make sure that we’re not disturbing lead. And that’s something we definitely don’t want to mess up.”

She says the city is also working to hire a consulting group that has experience dealing with PFAS contamination to help mold the long-term solutions to the problem. “Had some good suggestions and we look forward to partnering with one of these fine consultants coming up here.”

She says the city is still a ways off from finalizing a solution, because they need to make sure they don't end up playing whack-a-mole by creating another problem in another area.

“Been working and testing several different kinds of resins of carbon activated, granular activated carbon, powder activated carbon, so we’ve been doing these different kinds of things and some of the resins seem to be promising.”

The city will continue to deliver bottled water and filters/pitcher sets to residents that would like them. The latter are currently being distributed on a reservation basis- residents that have signed up are encouraged to check their email to know when it's their turn to pick up.

Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.