3M Responsible For Contamination, Says Middlesex Water On Lawsuit

EDISON, NJ — Middlesex Water Company on Wednesday filed a third-party complaint, saying 3M Company was responsible for PFAS contamination in the water.

In their complaint, filed in the Superior Court of Middlesex County, Middlesex Water said that 3M Company, an American multinational conglomerate, should be the target of the recent class-action lawsuit.

A class-action lawsuit was filed on behalf of Middlesex County residents who received notices from Middlesex Water Company that their water has levels of Perfluorooctanoic Acid above drinking water standards. Read More: Judge Certifies Class Action Lawsuit Against Middlesex Water Co.

The water company alleges that 3M Company is responsible for the PFAS in the water supply at its Park Avenue wellfield facility in South Plainfield.

“The Vera plaintiffs have sued the wrong party, and all efforts should be made to hold the actual polluter of Middlesex Water’s Park Avenue facility, the 3M Company, accountable for their actions,” said Jay L. Kooper, Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary, Middlesex Water Company.

“Middlesex Water Company did not pollute its own water supply. The Vera lawsuit is misguided, unnecessary, and even detrimental to the interests of the very people whom these class action attorneys represent.”

Known as the “forever chemical” PFAS are found in a variety of household items made including cookware, cosmetics, dental floss and pizza boxes.

For decades, these items have been manufactured and dispersed throughout the country, and have ultimately found its way into the aquifers and waterways, drinking water, including people’s bodies and blood.

PFAS do not break down and last in the environment for thousands of years.

“Every dollar Middlesex Water directs to this lawsuit is one less dollar realized from the litigation with 3M that could spare the very Middlesex Water customers the Vera attorneys claim to represent from having to pay the cost to remediate the PFAS pollution for the long-term,” Kooper said.

Last year, the company sent out a tainted water supply notice to customers on Oct. 22 informing them of the high levels of PFAS. The notices were expanded to other townships on Nov. 8.

The company told consumers that it received a notice in early September that the limit rose to 36.1 parts per trillion (ppt) in a sample collected on Aug.2, which is more than twice the permissible limit of 14 ppt enforced by the NJ Department of Environmental protection.

The heightened reading was due to a new shift in standards by the NJDEP which started regulating PFAS in the summer of 2020.

The water company said it took “immediate action and initiated plans to upgrade treatment at its Park Avenue facility in 2018,” several years before the NJDEP established and implemented a maximum contaminant level regulation for PFAS.

In 2018, they completed a thorough investigation and identified the polluter responsible for placing PFAS into the Park Avenue facility – the 3M Company – and immediately filed a lawsuit to hold 3M accountable, Middlesex Water said.

In the meantime, in anticipation of meeting the new NJDEP regulation by its implementation date, Middlesex Water Company was able to develop an interim alternate source of water supply largely due to capital improvements to its plant and water transmission system made in prior years.

Although this solution was not able to be implemented by the date the regulation became effective, it was ready to be put in place by early November 2021, Middlesex Water said.

This solution enabled the company to take its Park Avenue facility offline to ensure none of the water provided to customers exceeds New Jersey’s maximum contaminant levels for PFAS.

Since November, customers have been receiving water from this alternate source.

“At every step, Middlesex Water Company has proactively acted to protect the interests of its customers and to ensure the continued provision of safe and reliable water service,” Kooper said.

“Part of these actions has been to ensure that the party that caused the exceedance of PFAS in Middlesex’s water supply – 3M Company – is the party held responsible for the remediation of the water supply. We call upon these class action attorneys in the Vera matter to do the same.”

In a statement to Patch, 3M said: "3M acted responsibly in connection with products containing PFAS and will vigorously defend its record of environmental stewardship.

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