What should impacted public water systems do?
A water authority that receives notice from the Court can choose to be part of the class action settlement or, if it chooses not to be part of the settlement, it must affirmatively opt out of the settlement process by a certain date. If an authority decides to be part of the class, an allocation procedure will determine how much money it is entitled to as part of the settlement. Generally, the allocation procedure is designed to address PFAS contamination in public water systems, with the volume of impacted water and degree of impact being factors used in calculating the cost of treating the PFAS contamination.

Unfortunately, there is no “one size fits all” answer to the question of what action a public water system should take with respect to the PFAS class action settlements. Due to the potential complexity of the decision making process and the costs involved (e.g. additional sampling), PMAA suggests that each authority public water system discuss this issue with their professional staff as soon as possible. Solicitors of member authorities with questions are welcome to contact PMAA Solicitor East, Steve Hann at 215-661-0400.