Delaware’s fight against “forever chemicals” in drinking water took another step when one of the state’s biggest water-utilities sued nine alleged makers, distributors or users of the PFAS substances, seeking compensation for the expense of installing filters on public-water systems to bring its water into compliance with state and federal health limits.
Investor-owned Veolia, which supplies some 40,000 customers in New Castle County, wants to recover at least $34.6 million from the defendants, a sum it says it has spent on the capital cost of bringing the drinking water from its Stanton plant into compliance with very low federal standards for PFOA and PFOS – two of the most commonly found types of PFAS chemicals – that have now been adopted by Delaware.
“Veolia brings this action against Defendants in an effort to recover the costs to treat and remove PFAS from its drinking water system and to ensure that Veolia has the resources necessary to continue to provide its customers and members of the public with safe drinking water that meets federal and state drinking water standards, and federal and state law and regulations,” the company said in a 46-page complaint filed in Delaware Superior Court on Aug. 11.
The filing is the first private court action by a Delaware water utility seeking to recover PFAS filtration or treatment costs from PFAS manufacturers or users, said Sean Dooley, a spokesman for the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services, which manages the state’s response to PFAS along with two other agencies. In 2021, the Delaware Attorney General agreed a settlement with DuPont, Chemours, Corteva and related entities regarding PFAS impact to Delaware’s natural resources.
While DuPont has agreed with the City of Seaford to maintain the city’s PFAS treatment system, that agreement was not the result of a lawsuit, Dooley said.
Delaware has adopted the federal standards for PFOA and PFOS, which were finalized by the EPA in April 2024 under the Biden administration. While President Donald Trump’s EPA retained the maximum contaminant limits of 4 parts per trillion (ppt) for those chemicals in drinking water, it gave utilities an extra two years – until the end of 2031 – to comply.
Before that, public water systems must complete their initial monitoring by 2027 and, beginning in 2029 must take corrective action and notify the public if PFAS levels exceed regulated limits.
The defendants include Philadelphia-based FMC Corp., which is accused of making a fungicide containing fluindapyr, a type of PFAS, as well as pharmaceutical coatings and ingredients, both at a Newark site that contaminated the Stanton plant water.
FMC denied the claim that it was responsible for PFAS contamination in the surface water that feeds the Stanton plant.
“Our understanding is that PFAS or PFAS-containing materials were not manufactured or produced at the Newark, Delaware site while it was owned by FMC Corp.,” the company said in a statement. “We will address the matter through the appropriate legal channels.”
Another defendant, Solvay Solexis, is accused of releasing PFAS chemicals from its plant in the Marshsllton area of New Castle County where it made PTFE, a type of PFAS chemical whose uses include nonstick cookware, lubricants and electrical insulation. Solvay Solexis did not respond to a request for comment.
In 2020, Delaware’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment Control (DNREC) named Solvay as a potentially responsible party for the release of PFOA into Red Clay Creek upstream of Veolia’s Stanton water-treatment plant.
Although the Veolia action is the first of its kind by a Delaware utility, it follows many other suits by utilities in other states that have joined in large class-action suits against the makers of the chemicals, that are linked with serious illnesses including some cancers and ulcerative colitis, as well as decreased response to vaccines, and developmental problems in infants. Compensation paid so far includes some $12 billion by 3M and more than $1 billion by DuPont. Makers of PFAS have also been sued individually by water systems.
In its complaint, Veolia said the defendants caused PFAS contamination of the White Clay and Red Clay Creeks from which the utility draws water for the Stanton plant.
“If Veolia succeeds, it could open the door for other utilities to do the same."Mark Nardone, director of advocacy at the Delaware Nature Society
As a purveyor of public water, Veolia said it’s subject to fines of $10,000 a day if it fails to comply with the very low health limits of 4 parts per trillion (ppt) set by the EPA and now adopted by Delaware for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. The company also faces the possibility of having its public water supply stopped if it doesn’t meet state standards, the suit said.
“As a result of Defendants’ acts and omissions regarding PFAS and in light of the federal and state regulation of PFAS including in drinking water, Veolia has been, and will continue to be, required to make significant and costly upgrades to the Stanton Plant and will incur significant maintenance and ongoing costs required to operate and maintain those upgrades, as well as to engage in the regular monitoring of PFAS levels,” the complaint said.
It said its capital cost for installing granular activated carbon filtration – an effective and commonly used PFAS-control method – at the plant was $34.6 million, plus an annual maintenance cost of about $3.5 million.
Mark Nardone, director of advocacy at the Delaware Nature Society, said the Veolia suit could encourage other water utilities to sue PFAS makers, users or distributors.
“If Veolia succeeds, it could open the door for other utilities to do the same,” Nardone said. “The question is what it would do with the money: fund treatment upgrade or rehabilitation of waterways? Set up relief for those with related health issues?”
The suit’s claim that waterways have been contaminated with PFAS was confirmed by DNREC testing in 2022 when it found both PFOA and PFOS at above the regulated limit at seven sites in the Lower Red Clay Creek – Calf Run area. The agency also found 14 other types of PFAS chemicals at those sites at the time.
“Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) were detected in the White Clay Creek upstream of Veolia Water’s White Clay surface water intake #2 in Stanton, Delaware,” the agency said in a report.
The state has been working on detecting and eradicating PFAS for the last decade. In March this year, DNREC the Division of Public Health and the Department of Agriculture released two progress reports on their work.
The reports included an implementation plan for how they aim to cut the presence of PFAS in drinking water, soil and air. They also released a separate plan to investigate and reduce a broader class of “chemicals of emerging concern” that include micoplastics, pharmaceuticals and pesticides as well as PFAS.
