Eau Claire Water Treatment Plant Hosts Governor Evers on PFAS

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers visited Eau Claire this week, touring the new PFAS removal facility at the Water Treatment Plant.

The visit came after Governor Evers signed a pair of bills on Monday to release over $125 million in funding to address PFAS contamination across the state. The forever chemicals have been linked to a number of negative health effects since they were first discovered, including developmental effects in children and an increased risk of certain kinds of cancer.

Eau Claire officials first discovered the forever chemicals in the drinking water supply in 2020. About a year later, the City’s water supply went over the Wisconsin Department of Health Services’ PFAS hazard index for the first time. As the concentration of PFAS in the water continued to increase, the City shut down a number of wells near the Chippewa Valley Regional Airport. Construction on the $20 million PFAS removal facility began in 2024.

After touring the facility, Governor Evers praised the work Eau Claire has already done to address the forever chemicals. He also highlighted the importance of continued state support so local governments don’t need to bear the brunt of the cost to remove the forever chemicals from their drinking water supply.

“If I had my druthers, we’d get rid of PFAS and then the City doesn’t have to do this anymore,” he said. “But given that that hasn’t been the case and they’re going to have PFAS for awhile until it’s all out of the water, the state will have to continue to do what we just did.”

Some of the funding to address PFAS will also come from legal settlements against the manufacturers responsible for the contamination. Eau Claire received the first portion of a $9.4 million settlement with 3M over the forever chemicals earlier this year.