M Focus on: Water & Energy
Bemidji builds new water treatment plant to treat PFAS contamination By KEVIN KILBANE | The Municipal
Several years ago, the city of Bemidji, Minn., discovered perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances had leached from the city airport into the underground aquifer the city’s five wells draw from for producing drinking water. The PFAS family includes an array of chemicals that are considered potential health risks. “We took a look at moving our well field,” said Nate Mathews, city manager for the community of 15,400 people in the north-central part of the state. “We studied all around the town where we could potentially drop some new wells. We couldn’t find another spot other than where we were.” Also, if the city abandoned the existing well field, the PFAS contamination in the aquifer would continue migrating east to Lake Bemidji about 3 miles away, Mathews said. 20 THE MUNICIPAL | JUNE 2022
So about four years ago, city officials decided to deal with the problem head-on: They would maintain the existing wells and treat the water to remove PFAS. Drawing out contaminated water and treating it also prevents the PFAS plume from migrating farther in the aquifer, Mathews said. That made Bemidji among the first communities in Minnesota to develop and implement a plan to remove PFAS from drinking water,
