Wausau exploring lawsuit to recoup costs of PFAs contamination

WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAW) - For a while now, Wausau has been having to deal with PFAS in the city’s water. Wausau mayor Katie Rosenberg says the city is stable now, but it wasn’t cheap to get there. How to recover some of those costs was part of the talks during Tuesday’s meeting.

“I wanted to give the council an opportunity to hear from some of these folks who are interested in helping us recover costs,” says Rosenberg. During the presentation, Attorney Stephen Aquario presented some information on how his firm is holding manufacturers accountable.

“There’s now over 4,000 cases filed against these manufacturers with hundreds and hundreds of municipal water departments joining,” says Aquario.

As part of the presentation—there was information for the city to consider entering a lawsuit with other municipalities. “This is part of that. We have a bunch of steps we have to take, but this is part of it. We are just hoping the city council likes what they’re hearing, and they want to move ahead,” says Rosenberg.

What that looks like is still to be determined. Entering into a lawsuit such as this could take some time without immediate results. Mayor Rosenberg added “Right now, it’s just having someone move ahead with this case. We know our state agencies move a little bit slower. We are ready to keep moving; that is basically what the public has told me.”

“We want to make sure we are getting every cent for the people of Wausau that’s my goal tonight,” says Rosenberg.

Copyright 2023 WSAW. All rights reserved.