Calif. Water Utility Sues Feds For $1.3M Water Treatment Cost

Law360 (January 21, 2020) A California water utility said in a lawsuit Tuesday the government should pay for a $1.3 million water treatment system it installed to clean up a well near a former U.S. Air Force base it blames for contaminating the well's water. California-American Water Co. said in the suit that that two kinds of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, or PFAS, were in the firefighting foam used during training exercises on the now-shuttered base, which contaminated the utility’s Nut Plains well in Sacramento County. The utility’s suit is the latest in a string of litigation involving aqueous film-forming foam, of AFFF, used for fire suppression. “As a proximate result of the Air Force’s use, handling, management and/or disposal of AFFF containing PFOA and PFOS, the Air Force created a condition that was harmful to health by contaminating a source of drinking water, affecting a substantial number of people at the same time,” the utility’s lawsuit said. The utility is represented by David D. Cooke and Kamran Javandel of Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis LLP. Read More (subscription required)