BROOKINGS — There continues to be no detectable levels of PFAS contamination in the drinking water for Brookings, according to recently returned results from testing in December.

The tests looked for 29 different PFAS chemicals at two different entry points into the city’s drinking water system, Brookings Municipal Utilities Water/Wastewater & Engineering Manager Eric Witt told the Brookings Register in a recent interview.

“We were below detection levels for all 29 compounds at both locations, so that’s good news,” he said.

Witt added that the information has been worked into a draft annual water quality report and will be delivered to Brookings residents in its final form in a month or two — it’ll be a flyer that appears in a customer’s BMU bill.

According to the U.S. government’s National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences website, PFAS — known formally as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and also called fluorochemicals — are “a large, complex group of synthetic chemicals that have been used in consumer products around the world since about the 1950s.”

The website — found at https://bit.ly/3UMnEku— goes on to state that PFAS “are ingredients in various everyday products. For example, PFAS are used to keep food from sticking to packaging or cookware, make clothes and carpets resistant to stains, and create firefighting foam that is more effective.”

They were manufactured by companies such as 3M, Chemours and others because they were incredibly useful, according to reporting by the Associated Press

That all sounds good and well, right? Unfortunately, there’s a less-than-savory side — PFAS are highly resistant to breaking down, so they persist in the environment for years and decades.

According to further AP reporting, PFAS accumulates in the body, which is why federal Environmental Protection Agency set their limits for drinking water at 4 parts per trillion for two common types — PFOA and PFOS — that are phased out of manufacturing but still are present in the environment. Health experts say low doses of the chemicals can build up in the body over time, so even small amounts are a problem.

The Solventum plant in Brookings, which was formerly a 3M facility for decades, has detected mostly low levels of PFAS in shallow soil and shallow water on its property, according to previous reporting in the Brookings Register. It’s undertaken efforts to track, contain and clean up the problem, including the installation of monitoring wells along with soil sampling and management efforts.

Meanwhile, the city plans to do further sampling of its water in June, Witt said. Beyond that, he said testing for PFAS will continue in the years ahead, since the EPA recently changed draft drinking water standards into actual drinking water standards for certain PFAS compounds.

“It’s not like my PFAS sampling will be over in June,” Witt noted. “This new rule is going to require me to start testing again, so I’ll be testing for the next couple of years, easily, for PFAS. … It’ll be ongoing, is my point.”

Testing-wise, the frequency remains in flux at this point in time — but, generally speaking, when a new compound is added, the schedule will include more frequent sampling.

“If we get low results, then they let you back off,” Witt said. “Now if you get high results — which, our data so far is not indicating that we will — then they keep the sampling up more frequently. If you get good results, then you can get on a reduced schedule.”

— Contact Mondell Keck at mkeck@brookingsregister.com.