Hermiston tackles forever chemicals in drinking water

HERMISTON – The city of Hermiston is working on a possible solution to freeing the city’s drinking water from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Assistant City Manager Mark Morgan says that being the largest city in Eastern Oregon prompted the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Quality to call for a test of its drinking water specifically for the forever chemicals which are called PFAS (peef-as).

Morgan said that while the levels didn’t cause undue alarm, the city has been studying ways to eliminate them. The process will be expensive.

Hermiston’s drinking water comes from Well 2, Well 4, and Well 5, all of which show levels of PFAS. Their water also comes from the Columbia River. Morgan said the plan they are advising the city council to accept would see Well 2 and Well 4 taken off line. Well 5 would be fitted with an $18 million filtration system. Meanwhile, the drinking water lost from the other two wells could be supplemented with the under-utilized amount the city can draw from the Columbia. It’s not a permanent fix, but Morgan says it will buy some time with PFAS-free water.

“Those provide us with all of our drinking water capacity that we project for the next 20 years, so that gets us quite a ways into the future,” he said.

Meanwhile, Hermiston is joining a class action lawsuit against several of the producers of PFAS and hopes some of the cost can be paid by damages realized in that suit.

The Hermiston City Council will discuss the issue at its meeting Monday at 7 p.m. It also held a workshop on the subject on July 27 which can be heard on Hermiston’s YouTube channel.

Graphic from Environmental Protection Agency

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Elkhorn Media Group