JCSD Files Lawsuit Against 3M, DuPont, and Others Over PFAS Contamination by Jurupa Community Services District Sep 21, 2022 Member Submitted News JURUPA VALLEY — Jurupa Community Services District (JCSD) has filed a lawsuit through SL Environmental Law Group against 3M Company, E.I. DuPont de Nemours, Inc., and other manufacturers of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF). The lawsuit is based on the AFFF manufacturer’s involvement in producing and selling per and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have contaminated water supplies that JCSD relies upon to provide drinking water throughout its service area. “JCSD has worked to identify and treat water from wells contaminated with PFAS to ensure the safe use of these crucial water supplies,” said Chris Berch, JCSD’s General Manager. “Through this lawsuit, we seek the costs of cleaning up these contaminants are borne by 3M, DuPont, and the other companies that sold and profited from their products containing PFAS, not our ratepayers.” PFAS are persistent toxic chemicals that bioaccumulate when released into the environment. Exposure to certain PFAS have been associated with several negative health outcomes in both humans and animals. PFAS has impacted surface water and groundwater throughout the country resulting in hundreds of similar lawsuits brought forward by water providers, and mostly against the same defendants, in an ongoing Multidistrict Litigation supervised by a federal judge in South Carolina. PFAS have been used for decades in AFFF, certain industrial processes, and in the production of thousands of common household and commercial products that are heat resistant, stain resistant, long-lasting, and water and oil repellant. The PFAS family of chemicals is entirely artificial and does not naturally exist in nature. JCSD proactively and transparently provides customers with water that meets or exceeds all water quality standards. JCSD conducts approximately 36,000 tests per year and continuously monitors for regulatory changes to ensure customers receive drinking water that meets these high standards. JCSD has installed treatment systems for PFAS at well sites using a single-pass ion-exchange resin technology. “The manufacturers and sellers of PFAS-containing products–3M, DuPont, and other defendants–knew that these products would likely pollute groundwater, yet they failed to take reasonable and available steps to avoid the use of PFAS in products and failed to provide warnings that using these products as directed could result in groundwater contamination,” said Ken Sansone, partner at SL Environmental Law Group. “Through this lawsuit, JCSD is asserting its rights under California law to ensure the quality and availability of water resources to the thousands of citizens and businesses who rely on those resources. JCSD wants to ensure that it is the corporations whose products are responsible for contaminating large portions of its water supplies that pay the substantial costs of cleaning it up.” SL Environmental Law Group is handling JCSD’s case as part of a consortium of law firms with decades of experience representing municipalities and other water providers across the nation in efforts to recover the costs of treating groundwater contamination from the corporations whose products caused the contamination. This group of firms represents dozens of water systems in southern California and more across the country affected by PFAS. For more media inquiries, contact Arman Tarzi, JCSD Community Affairs Supervisor, at (951) 685-7434, or at ATarzi@JCSD.us. For SL Environmental Law Group, please contact Izzy Weisz, Communications and Content Strategist, at (831) 535-2356, or at IWeisz@SLenvironment.com.
