Regulators Reveal Plan To Clean Up Water With $850M 3M Settlement

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Residents of the east metro are hearing from state officials about how their water will be treated years after 3M dumped chemicals into the ground.

The state sued the company for $5 billion for contamination, saying the chemicals caused higher rates of cancer and premature births. The two sides reached a settlement earlier this year for $850 million.

Tuesday night was the first of three meetings designed to tell people what the state plans to do with that money.

"If we go in and see if work needs to be done, we test the private well, we go in and it's above the health advisory, the agency will work to get a drinking water treatment system that's covered by 3M," Kirk Koudelka of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency said.

For years, 3M legally dumped PFC's, used to make Scotchguard and other products. The company says it doesn't believe the chemicals caused negative health effects.