The Greater Augusta Utility District is suing the owners of four paper mills on the Kennebec River for allegedly contaminating one of its drinking water wells downstream with toxic “forever chemicals.”
The district said that per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, discharged at the mills and nearby landfills were carried by the Kennebec into one of its drinking water wells.
The district had to close one of its riverside wells in 2024 after it recorded PFAS levels above the state safety limit of 20 parts per trillion.
In the lawsuit, the agency says the mill owners should be solely responsible for all PFAS remediation costs.
The utility district did not respond to an interview request Tuesday. It wants the companies to pay for current and future water treatment and remediation.
The lawsuit names the Sappi Mill in Skowhegan, Huhtamaki plant in Waterville, a defunct mill in Winslow owned by Kimberly-Clark and a former facility in Augusta owned by now-bankrupt American Tissue Mills of Maine.
In a statement, Sappi said that it was in the process of reviewing the complaint and was in compliance with all environmental regulations and its state and federal discharge permits.
“Sappi does not knowingly use PFAS containing materials in any of its products,” spokesperson April Jones said.
The lawsuit alleges that pollution from the mills has contaminated the Kennebec River, as recorded by elevated chemical levels in fish tissue recorded by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection.
“Maine DEP has reported PFOS contamination in aquatic species collected from multiple locations along the river, including Hinckley, Fairfield, Gardiner, Augusta, and downstream locations,” the utility said.
Only one of its wells hydrologically connected to the Kennebec River showed elevated levels of PFAS chemicals, according to the utility district. Other drilled wells have shown no contamination, it added.
The well that was taken offline two years ago was restored last week after the district added a $2 million PFAS treatment system, according to news reports.
Emily Carey Perez de Alejo, executive director of Maine environmental group Defend our Health, said Augusta’s lawsuit was the first of its kind in Maine.
While landowners have sued paper mills over PFAS contamination from wastewater sludge sprayed on their land and water districts have pursued manufacturers in U.S. court, Carey Perez de Alejo said the case may be a unique example of a public utility coming after PFAS users.
“The information on the hazard of PFAS chemicals has been available for years, and there is significant business risk in choosing to produce or use hazardous chemicals,” Carey Perez de Alejo said.
“Industries choosing to create or use PFAS in spite of that should not be surprised when consumers, regulators, and other impacted groups (like water and wastewater utilities) seek compensation for the harms generated by those PFAS,” Carey Perez de Alejo added.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.