HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A new lawsuit has been filed on behalf of 23 plaintiffs who say their illnesses are due to consumption of water contaminated by area chemical companies and sold by the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority.
The companies named in the lawsuit include 3M, which used the chemicals PFOA and PFOS for a number of years at its Decatur plant.
Other defendants include companies that either made or used the PFCs, Daikin America and 3M subsidiary Dyneon.
It also names the water authority that sold the drinking water.
The chemicals were widely used to make surfaces impervious, such as Scotchguard.
The lawsuit argues the intake source from the authority’s drinking water is 13 miles from 3M’s plant.
“The EPA and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management have identified Defendants’ facilities as sources of PFOA and PFOS contamination in the Tennessee River in and around Decatur, Alabama, including surface water, porewater, sediments, and fish,” the lawsuit claims.
“The primary source is the 3M facility, with the high levels of POFA and PFOS in groundwater migrating into the Tennessee River.” The lawsuit follows a health advisory issued last year by the Environmental Protection Agency on its findings that the West Morgan-East Lawrence Water Authority’s drinking water had concentrations of the chemicals at higher than recommended levels.
The company has also argued the EPA’s advisories concerning PFCs are incorrect.
It lawsuit says the water authority had 10,425 customers, as of Sept. 30, 2016, who could join the lawsuit.