For a community leader like Josh Johnson, the newly elected chairman of the Town of Campbell, “forever chemicals” are more than just a health risk — they’re an expensive problem, one that a municipality of fewer than 5,000 people would struggle to fix on its own.
The town, situated on French Island across the Mississippi River from La Crosse, didn’t have funds to conduct testing last year when water contamination stemming from the nearby La Crosse Regional Airport came to light and homeowners wanted to know if PFAS had reached their wells.
Of 551 private drinking wells sampled so far, only 13 have shown no trace of the long-lasting chemicals. More than 130 have levels above the state’s recommended limits for drinking water. Read more…
