Using funds from a $850 million settlement agreement with 3M, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is seeking to assess the role of Project 1007 — a flood control initiative completed in 1987 — in the propagation of PFAS contamination within the East Metro Area of the Twin Cities. Project 1007 directs water from the Tri-Lakes area to the St. Croix River via stormwater pipes, open channels and creeks. One such creek flows through a former PFAS disposal site, where PFAS leached into the groundwater for decades.

Designed and implemented by AECOM, the assessment involves sampling and testing soil, sediment, surface water and groundwater in 14 separate communities across 120 square miles. The result is an integrated surface water and groundwater model that identifies site specific PFAS trends. The project is informing targeted remedial action while leading the way for PFAS remediation in the U.S.

In December 2022, MPCA became the first U.S. state government to pilot a combination of innovative technologies to address PFAS. The first technology, surface activated foam fractionation, takes contaminated water and turns the PFAS into a foam that can be separated from the water. The foam then goes into AECOM’s DE-FLUORO™ unit where electrochemical oxidation breaks the carbon-fluorine bonds.