Officials with the Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency are outlining their portion of Governor Tim Walz’s budget proposal relating to “forever chemicals” in our water systems.
The proposal includes several million dollars to investigate and address the PFAS chemicals. Assistant Health Commissioner Dan Huff says 84% of fish in contaminated lakes and rivers have PFAS in their tissue.
“Although fish from other lakes and streams have low or non-detectable levels, this proposal expands the state’s sampling of PFAS in fish,” Huff said.
Exposure to these chemicals over time has been linked to cancer, weakened immunity, liver problems, and low birth weights.
Assistant Commissioner for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, Kirk Koudelka, says the $25 million in funding through the budget would go to cities, so they can start redesigning their drinking water systems immediately.
However, he noted that this would only be the start of solving a bigger issue.
“These funds are a down payment. Ultimately, we’re going to need more dollars to actually construct these facilities,” Koudelka said. “MPCA will also use these dollars to start investigations, to find responsible parties to help with the clean up work, and also work to sample private wells where we have areas of concern.”
More money is also being proposed to increase staffing related to PFAS at the MPCA and to support more lab testing within the state health department.
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