EMMAUS, Pa. — Two PFAS-contaminated wells are one step closer to remediation after the borough was awarded $11.78 million in state grants and loans.
“The Borough of Emmaus is very thankful for the PENNVEST funding, as the financial assistance is going to help alleviate the financial burden on our community members,” said Shane Pepe, borough manager. “… It is our goal that construction will begin by late March, with completion by the end of Spring 2026.
“Although there will be ongoing costs in the future, this is going [to] alleviate a huge financial burden by saving millions of dollars for our community members.”
State officials on Wednesday announced $288.2 million for 39 drinking water, wastewater and other projects across two dozen counties through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority or PENNVEST. Emmaus’ tranche of the funding included a $9,731,255 grant and a $2,048,745 loan to remediate two wells contaminated with per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, also known as forever chemicals.
“Today’s investment in our communities strengthens our clean water infrastructure while addressing legacy contaminants like lead and PFAS,” said Brian Regli, PENNVEST chairman, in a news release. “Through use of traditional funding programs and funding introduced in 2022 under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, PENNVEST has already financed more than $67 million for nine PFAS projects across five counties before today’s funding awards announcement.
“With the announcement of funding awarded at today’s board meeting, PENNVEST’s total PFAS funding commitment has now increased to in excess of $95,096,576.”
PFAS in the Lehigh Valley
PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used in consumer products since the 1940s, but have been nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they are incredibly slow to break down once introduced into the environment, and can contaminate groundwater.
They’re prevalent and found in products ranging from drinking water to food, household and personal care products, and have been linked to a variety of health problems, including liver and immune-system damage and some cancers.
In April, EPA officials announced the first-ever national drinking water standard regulating forever chemicals.They set a maximum of 4.0 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and perfluorooctane sulfonate, PFOS, individually — two of the most widely used and studied chemicals in the PFAS group.
Under the standard, utilities have three years for initial monitoring. Then, they have another few years to monitor and communicate those results to residents. Starting in 2029, utilities must comply with all maximum contaminant levels, with notifications of any violations.
PFAS have been recorded in at least four streams in the Valley. However, there have been efforts locally to mitigate further contamination.
In November, officials at the Bethlehem Landfill cut the ribbon on its new $2 million PFAS treatment plant. It’s the first of its kind in the U.S. and uses foam fractionation to remove forever chemicals from water that has flowed through garbage in the landfill.
Emmaus’ efforts to remediate its four wells have been costly and well-documented, after firefighting foam used for decades at the Klines Lane firefighting training grounds, as well as other locations, was found to be the source of PFAS contamination.
Emmaus in April 2022 filed a lawsuit against 3M Co., DuPont and a slew of other PFAS manufacturers, alleging that the companies knew about the link between their firefighting foam and the dangers of PFAS since the 1950s, but continued to sell them anyway.
At the end of that year, 3M officials announced they would stop manufacturing PFAS and “discontinue the use of PFAS across its product portfolio by the end of 2025.”
In 2023, Emmaus Borough Council voted unanimously to treat its wells, which could cost $24 million to $30 million over 20 years. Then, 3M Co. settled with multiple plaintiffs, committing up to $10.3 billion, payable over 13 years, for remediation.
But the borough hasn’t gotten a payout — and officials don’t seem to be holding their breath.
“ … We are continuing to pursue lawsuits on every one of those companies, and we'll see what happens of it. But, I can tell you that it's very highly unlikely that we will receive any kind of settlement in the next year.”Shane Pepe, Emmaus' borough manager
“We were within reach of a major settlement that was well above what they were offering before, and literally the documents were being written, and then 3M fired their CEO,” Pepe said during a recent phone interview. “And their new CEO, we have made no progress since.
“ … We are continuing to pursue lawsuits on every one of those companies, and we'll see what happens of it. But, I can tell you that it's very highly unlikely that we will receive any kind of settlement in the next year.”
In December, Borough Council approved, in a 6-1 vote, a 26% tax increase for 2025. Reasons for the hike included health care rates, workers’ compensation, electricity, natural gas and refuse collection, net pension funds and fire tax, as well as PFAS remediation.
Remediation plans
Funding from PENNVEST is earmarked for two of the borough’s wells at 101 Kline’s Lane, including one that’s been offline since contamination was discovered. The other is still in use.
“The project is for well one and well two — $13 million is what we expect the bid, the bid spec has been written and the bid is actually out right now,” Pepe said.
Asked if there’s a priority between the two wells, Pepe said the well currently offline will most likely be remediated first.
“That way, the other one can stay online while we're doing the other well,” he said. “And then once that treatment system is ready to go, we can kind of shut the other one down, start up the other well being treated, and then and then finish the second well.”
There are about 50 prospective bidders so far, Pepe said.
“When one or two show up, they know they've got you right? They know that, basically, the price is whatever they decide,” Pepe said. “When 50 show up, they know that they have to put their best foot forward if they plan on winning the bid. So, that's good news for the borough.”
The borough has already submitted purchase orders for tanks from Calgon Carbon, a PFAS remediation company.
“There’s four of them — they’re something like 12 feet wide by 30 feet tall,” Pepe said. “The entire complex over there is getting redone.”
In addition to the up-front costs, there’s yearly upkeep and maintenance, too.
“It's going to cost about $100,000 a year to maintain them because you have to change the carbon bedding out,” Pepe said. “Essentially, if all the scientists and engineers are right — I mean, I can only count on what they say — that system will remove all PFAS from those two wells, and that water will be treated and be clean going out to the town.”
With remediation plans well underway for two of the borough’s wells, two others are still in need of work.
“We have two wells that are on the borderline of what the acceptable levels are from [the] DEP and EPA,” Pepe said. “They both need to be done.
“We need to worry about one thing at a time. We need to worry about 1,000 parts per trillion and 160 parts per trillion before we worry about the 10 parts per trillion. Because one thing the community does have is an endless supply of money.”
The most recent estimate for remediation of the borough’s other two wells was $6 million. Pepe said engineering costs alone could be $1 million.
"We need to get those treated first and then start game planning for the other two.”Shane Pepe, Emmaus' borough manager
“That's money that people can't see, right? It's professional costs,” he said. “So, we've got to get those two. Those are the two that are severe. We need to get those treated first and then start game planning for the other two.”
In an email after the PENNVEST funding was announced, Pepe thanked local legislators and officials for advocating for the borough.
“We want to thank Representative Schweyer and Senator Miller, for their advocacy and hard work in pushing to help get our project funded,” Pepe said. “We also want to thank Rebecca Hayden at PENNVEST for her guidance and advocacy for our project throughout the application process.
“We also want to thank our engineers at Gannett Fleming for assisting me with the grant application, design work and helping guide the borough to get to this point, as it has been a long journey and we are excited that the project is out to bid, with bids being due in early February.”
