Pre-K school in northern Wisconsin relying on bottled water with discovery of elevated PFAS
MERRILL - The pre-kindergarten school in a northern Wisconsin school is now providing bottled water for students and staff, after elevated levels of "forever chemicals" were found in the well serving the building.
Culligan water is being provided in every room in Pine River School for Young Learners where students drink water or brush their teeth, said Shannon Murray, superintendent of the Merrill School District.
So far things have been going smoothly, Murray said, and the bottled water and open conversation are helping to keep the community calm.
"The kids have been great. The families have been great. Social media has been very supportive," he said. "It's not like anybody's done anything wrong, but I would classify it as a pretty significant inconvenience."
Mandatory testing in early August found PFOS, one of the two most well-known and well-researched PFAS compounds, at 78 parts per trillion in a well serving the school, above the state standard of 70 parts per trillion for the compound. PFOA was detected below the limit at 54 parts per trillion. Several other PFAS compounds that are unregulated in the state were also detected by the test, according to state data.
The levels of both PFOA and PFOS are both above recommendations from the Environmental Protection Agency of 4 parts per trillion, which could become federal regulations if approved.
While PFAS can be harmful to adults as well, the EPA suggests that the compounds could be worse for children, because they drink more water, eat more food and breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults.
More: Gov. Tony Evers asks for safeguards on PFAS bill to ensure communities can access state relief
In testing conducted by the Journal Sentinel last summer, Merrrill's water system had low levels of PFAS, but nothing near the levels of the Pine River school. Burton said that at this point, the source is unknown, and could have come from anywhere.
But a drive past the school doesn't give any additional clues as to where the contamination could be coming from. Surrounded by agricultural fields, the closest businesses to it are a storage company and a combination Kentucky Fried Chicken and Taco Bell restaurant.
"Right now we're working with the school to reduce exposure. We really haven't done any kind of investigation," said Kyle Burton, the field operations director of drinking water and groundwater for the DNR. "There's no real smoking gun, there are so many sources of PFAS."
In the meantime, the DNR and the school district are exploring options for treating the contamination.
"Longer term, the DNR kind of walks us through some long-term solutions, including connecting up to city water and the city water has passed all PFAS tests so far," Murray said. "That estimate would be about a million and a half bucks without getting too far into it."
The district is also exploring moving the operations of the school to a different building next year, which would be connected to the city water instead of the private well. The district has an empty building that used to be an elementary school, so that option could be viable, Murray said, and the community is talking about the option.
A lack of information on how long PFAS have been in the well or how many students may have been exposed is raising concerns. Murray's own children attended the school when they were younger, but the district can only focus on solutions at this point, and how those will eventually be paid for.
Money will be a bit of an issue, but the district will do what it can to ensure no other students are exposed.
"We just cut 3 million from our budget coming into the school year," he said. "It's a surprise."
More: 'Forever chemicals' found in Wisconsin River, lakes near Stella, raising concerns over fish
About PFAS
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a family of man-made chemicals used for their water- and stain-resistant qualities in products like clothing and carpet, nonstick cookware, packaging and firefighting foam.
The family includes 5,000 compounds, which are persistent, remaining both in the environment and human body over time. The chemicals have been linked to types of kidney and testicular cancers, lower birth weights, harm to immune and reproductive systems, altered hormone regulation and altered thyroid hormones.
The chemicals enter the human body largely through drinking water. PFAS have been found across Wisconsin.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X at @SchulteLaura.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: PFAS found in well water puts Wisconsin pre-K school on bottled water
