Ahlstrom, the owner of Rhinelander mill, is responsible for PFAS contamination in the town of Stella, located east of Rhinelander, and launched a bottled water program for residents on Thursday, Wisconsin Public Radio reports.
Those who live within a 3-mile radius of Stella Town Hall are eligible. Residents are able to receive free bottled water even if their well water was not tested for PFAS.
The program will be run by Langan Engineering and Environmental Services, and 5-gallon jugs of bottled water will be delivered and collected monthly by Culligan Water.
“We understand that concerns about drinking water have been raised by residents of the region, and we are working to be part of the solution,” Tricia Schwartz, communications manager for Ahlstrom’s operations in North America, said in a statement.
The program was implemented after the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources named Ahlstrom and other paper companies responsible for widespread PFAS contamination last fall.
Testing of private wells in Stella has revealed PFAS levels among the highest concentrations found in drinking water anywhere in the nation. The levels are thousands of times higher than federal drinking water standards enacted last year.
