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Abilene council approves design contract to study PFAS treatment using $8.7M settlement
Summary
Council approved a professional services contract to evaluate PFAS/PFOS treatment options and pilot testing, funded from an $8.7 million settlement; staff said treatment costs remain uncertain but the city will pursue pilot testing and design work before construction.
The Abilene City Council voted unanimously to approve a professional services contract to design and test treatment options for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), officials said during a lengthy presentation on the city’s water strategy.
Jeremiah Bill, assistant director for the water utility, told the council the city received $8,700,000 from a PFAS-related settlement and plans to use those funds to pay for preliminary design, bench-scale testing and pilot work to determine which technologies can most effectively remove PFOS from local sources. “So this is bench-scale testing that we can then use that data to determine what kind of pilot study do we want to do and which technologies make sense for that,” Bill said.
City staff reviewed the federal monitoring results (UCMR 5) that identified PFOS levels above proposed guidance and described an April 2029 compliance date that the EPA earlier proposed. Bill said the EPA recently signaled a possible extension to 2031 but added requirements for utilities seeking that extension, including distribution of point-of-use filters. “They’re giving you an extension, but they’re also putting more requirements that are technically unfunded,” he said.
Officials said the technical and long-term costs remain uncertain. Bill offered a preliminary range, saying the implementation of a treatment process on a conventional plant could be “5 to 10,000,000” (the transcript phrasing reflects a rough estimate and uncertainty). Council members asked whether the settlement would cover the expected expenses; staff responded that the city intends to apply settlement funds to design and, where possible, construction, but acknowledged the funds may not fully cover total costs and that rate or CIP funding could be needed later.
The motion approved by the council authorizes design and testing work and directs staff to report cost estimates and next steps once testing is complete. Mayor and council members emphasized transparency and asked that the utility publish how settlement dollars are spent.
What happens next: staff will proceed with the bench-scale testing and pilot planning, return with refined cost estimates and a recommended treatment technology, and update council on how settlement funds are allocated.
