Crest Hill plans to update residents on forever chemicals in water at Monday meeting

Crest Hill — The city of Crest Hill will hold its next City Council work session at the public works building in order to discuss ongoing water-quality issues, including the elevated level of forever chemicals in two city wells.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. Monday at 2090 Oakland Ave. All Crest Hill residents are welcome.

According to an announcement from the city, the meeting will include an updated presentation about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS – known commonly as forever chemicals – in the local water system.

The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency sent letters to Crest Hill residents and city officials in April warning that two of the city’s eight wells, Well 1 (Chaney) and Well 7 (Elrose), contained abnormally high levels of two chemicals: perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid.

PFOA was found at a rate of 13.7 parts per trillion, more than three times the regulated limit of 4 parts per trillion, and PFHxS was found at a rate of 12.2 parts per trillion, despite a regulated limit of 10 parts per trillion in Illinois.

It is unclear exactly how harmful excessive amounts of these forever chemicals may be for human and animal consumption; however, initial studies have linked high PFAS contamination to risks of certain cancers, fertility problems and immune system issues.

At the time the issue was announced, the city said the long-term plan to address the problem was to switch to Lake Michigan water – something Crest Hill, Joliet and Romeoville are in the midst of implementing, but which will not be completed until 2030.

In the short term, residents whose homes were affected by the contaminated wells were advised to install filtration systems in their homes, such as carbon filters or reverse-osmosis filters, to remove the contaminants.

The meeting agenda was not specific about how the issue will be addressed or what other measures the city may be considering to handle the situation.

More information about the risks posed by PFAS and how to properly filter water for PFAS can be found on the IEPA’s website.