New water system for Illinois city will remove PFAS

A small town in Illinois is pioneering the way to bring safer water into people’s homes by investing in a brand new water system.

At a cost of $13m, the new plant will supply fresh drinking water drawn from deep wells which will be treated to remove all traces of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They are a large group of chemical substances widely known as ‘Forever Chemicals’ due to the time it can take for them to break down in the environment. PFAS has been linked to many serious health conditions including cancer.

Freeport is a small industrial city with a population of 24,000 people in northwest Illinois. The new water treatment plant, expected to be completed in 2023, will provide up to 2 million gallons a day of PFAS free drinking water.

This follows the news that scientists have recently discovered new methods to break down the strong chemical bonds of PFAS giving hope that the harmful effects of this large chemical group on our environment and health can, in time, be lessened.

Watch the full news story here.

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