The Dangerous Economist: Life is full of tradeoffs: it costs money to keep chemicals out of our water systems

See Who Pays to Get Forever Chemicals Out of Drinking Water? It Could Be You: Officials say settlements with 3M and DuPont won’t cover all of the costs of building new filtration systems by John Keilman and Kris Maher of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Water systems are spending millions of dollars to filter out PFAS, the long-lasting compounds commonly known as forever chemicals, which have been linked to cancer and other health problems.
Earlier this year 3M MMM, DuPont and two other companies agreed to proposed class-action settlements of contamination claims for up to $13.7 billion, but some water providers are already passing the cleanup cost on to customers.
Communities including Hawthorne, N.J., Wellesley, Mass., and Wausau, Wis., have boosted their water rates by 13% to more than 50% after the discovery of PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, led them to build new filtration systems or buy water from other sources."
"In recent years hundreds of municipalities have sued PFAS manufacturers, alleging that the companies knew that the chemicals would contaminate aquifers. The companies, while seeking to settle the litigation, say PFAS haven’t been shown to cause health problems at the levels detected in drinking water.
Some lawyers have said the settlements won’t come close to paying the full cost of PFAS treatment, pointing to a study from the American Water Works Association that estimated the nationwide capital costs at $47 billion. The Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies has said treating drinking water could cost up to $6 billion annually."

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