Each day, the City of Sacramento produces an average of 80 million gallons of drinking water for its 526,000 residents. After Sacramento detected PFAS in some of its groundwater supply wells, through testing as part of the California State Water Resources Control Board’s efforts to assess PFAS levels throughout the state, the City turned to SL Environmental Law Group to pursue legal action against PFAS manufacturers. Through a lawsuit, the City aimed to protect its ratepayers from any financial burdens of PFAS treatment, while holding the manufacturers accountable for the PFAS in their drinking water.
In 2022, SL filed a lawsuit on behalf of Sacramento, against the manufacturers of PFAS and products that contained, it as part of the AFFF multi-district litigation (MDL). The AFFF MDL consolidates thousands of similar cases brought by entities impacted by PFAS contamination against the same manufacturers, streamlining the litigation process and saving time and resources. When 3M and DuPont reached multibillion-dollar class action settlements with U.S. drinking water providers in 2023, the City, based on SL’s recommendation, decided that participating in those settlements would be the best course of action. That decision did not end the matter, however; Sacramento wanted to ensure it did the most it could under the complex settlements to maximize its recovery.
Based on both its comprehensive knowledge of water utility operations and decades of experience helping water systems recover funds through the legal process, SL provided key recommendations to help Sacramento optimize its recovery under the settlements:
In addition to these recommendations, SL worked with Sacramento’s staff to ensure that all of the necessary supporting data and documentation was collected and presented during the settlement claims process – including claims to recovery money the City had already spent in upgrading some of its existing treatment technologies to address PFAS.
The City of Sacramento’s voluntary sampling of previously tested and untested wells, along with the rest of SL’s support, helped the City obtain an award of approximately $10.4 million—more than double what the City had anticipated receiving before it conducted the additional testing. And the City also has preserved its rights to make additional claims if PFAS is detected in additional wells or at higher concentrations in the future. By taking these steps, the City has not only obtained a significant sum of money that it can use to offset any PFAS treatment expenses, or for other capital projects, but also helped protect its ratepayers against potential future PFAS costs.
"Delivering clean, safe and affordable drinking water are some of our highest priorities and the results of this lawsuit are expected to help ensure we can continue delivering on that commitment while holding polluters accountable. Because of our legal team’s guidance, we were able to significantly increase our financial recovery, which ultimately leads to being able to better protect our rates payers – now and in the future."
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