Florida City Gets Drinking Water Warning From State Officials

By Anna Skinner | Newsweek | August 15, 2024

Read the full article by Anna Skinner (Newsweek)

"Florida's Department of Environmental Protection officials have expressed concern about drinking water quality in Milton after the FDEP found that the city could introduce chemicals in the drinking water through an upcoming effluent discharge.

The FDEP issued a letter to Milton City Manager Randy Jorgensen last week. It alerted him that when Milton begins discharging its effluent on spray fields within Santa Rosa County's Wellfield Protection District, dangerous levels of several per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) could be introduced onto the ground, according to the Pensacola News Journal.

Although there are no federal effluent guidelines regarding PFAS for wastewater treatment plants, maximum contaminant levels are set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for drinking water. An aquifer in the Milton area is recharged by rainfall, which makes it susceptible to contamination from chemicals dumped at the ground level. This has sparked concern about the effluent discharge."