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Melissa DeWoskin will never know whether the toxic forever chemicals from her contaminated private well in West Lakeland Township played a role in her daughter s developmental disabilities.
The what-ifs and unknowns are difficult and all the money from Minnesota s $850 million settlement with 3M Co. over the groundwater pollution from the man-made chemicals won t change that. Your instinct as a mother is to blame yourself, DeWoskin said, choking back tears. Did I expose myself to something?
The township is a hot spot for contamination from the man-made per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances called PFAS. The toxic nonstick chemicals, manufactured by Maplewood-based 3M, are linked to a host of diseases and don t break down in the environment. They ve polluted more than 150 square miles of groundwater across southern Washington County, affecting the drinking water of 14 communities and more than 170,000 Minnesotans.