Residents of tiny Peshtigo consider joining nearby city to fix water supply, which is polluted with chemicals known as PFAS
PESHTIGO, Wis.—For decades, a fire-technology company next to this town on the shore of Green Bay set steel structures and other props ablaze and trained firefighters from around the world to put them out with a special foam.
Today, chemicals from that foam are found in private water wells several miles away and in creeks that flow into the bay, and leaders of the town of Peshtigo are in a bitter fight with the company about how to get safe drinking water to residents.
Cindy Boyle, chairwoman of the town board, said it was infuriating that her family has had to drink and cook with bottled water for the past four years and that she wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about the contamination under her town. “If we could just get permanent safe water at least that part could stop,” said Ms. Boyle, 50 years old.
The Wall Street Journal
By Kris Maher
Apr. 24, 2022 10:00 am ET