Tampa Bay Water announced this week it has received a $21.7 million settlement from a lawsuit against manufacturers of potentially harmful "forever chemicals."
The utility, which supplies water to 2.6 million residents across three counties and three cities within the greater Tampa Bay region, found slightly elevated levels of the chemicals, also known as PFAS, at three locations in Hillsborough County wells and river water sources during testing the past couple of years.
"PFAS doesn't originate in drinking water. It gets into our drinking water sources through the environment, usually through the use and discarding of products that contain PFAS,” said Brandon Moore, the public communications manager for Tampa Bay Water.
PFAS is an abbreviation for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a large group of synthetic chemicals used in many household and personal products for about eight decades. Certain types of cancer, plus liver damage, high cholesterol and other illnesses have been linked to long-term exposure.
Tampa Bay Water helped lead the litigation for multiple districts in a Charleston, South Carolina, federal court against 3M Co. and E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Co. in 2020.
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In 2023, the companies agreed to pay a collective $13.7 billion for contaminating public water systems around the country: $12.5 billion from 3M and $1.2 billion from DuPont.
The money can be used to help filter out the chemicals from drinking water.
Tampa Bay Water doesn't yet know the cost of removing PFAS from a few of its water sources.
Augie Ribeiro, a lawyer who is part of the team representing Tampa Bay Water, said the wholesaler could see a few million dollars more when all is said and done.
"We anticipate ... the total to be closer to $24 million,” he said.
Because Tampa Bay Water filed the lawsuit so early, he said it is receiving a bigger payout.
Ribeiro is also a resident of Pinellas County, which buys water from the utility.
"To me, this was not only an exciting battle to win for Tampa Bay Water, but it's exciting that as a resident, that I know that the leadership that's watching over our water supply is being proactive,” he said.
Harry Cohen is a Hillsborough County commissioner and chairman of Tampa Bay Water's board.
"I think the board was very forward thinking in having gotten into this lawsuit almost immediately when it became apparent that local governments and local water authorities would bear the responsibility for testing and for sampling and then treating our water for PFAS," he said.
Tampa Bay Water and other water suppliers across the country have until 2031 to comply with the federal government's new regulatory limit of 4 parts per trillion.
