PFAS Drinking Water Contamination

Objective

Preventing PFAS contamination of the Deer Creek Springs Critical Aquifer Recharge Area (CARA). This local drinking water source supplies clean water to residents of Edmonds south of 220th St SW, Esperance, and all of Woodway.

Approach
  • The EEC seeks revisions to the City of Edmonds Critical Area Code, specifically the Critical Aquifer Recharge Area code, to prohibit the use of all types of Underground Injection Control wells in all CARAs within the City
  • The City of Edmonds Critical Area code must explicitly protect all CARAs within Edmonds
  • Olympic View Water and Sewer District supplies water for Edmonds south of 220th, all of Woodway, and Esperance. OVWSD has 5,075 water customers. 85% of these customers live in Edmonds.
  • PFAS laden stormwater runoff inside the two Edmonds CARAs should be removed through the city’s underground stormwater system. If no underground stormwater infrastructure exists, it should be built, or contaminated stormwater must be filtered. Filtering must follow State or Federally approved methods to remove the PFAS chemicals below threshold levels before it is allowed to enter the groundwater.
Current Efforts
  • The Deer Creek Springs CARA is of particular concern, as the water storage layer is exposed at the surface. This compacted, clean, sandy soil; deposited at the end of the last Ice Age, is the storage medium for the aquifer. The storage layer is called Advance outwash (Qva). This Qva layer is normally buried deeply underground and protected by other alluvial soils deposited over it. These soils help to filter the surface water as it soaks into the ground and recharges the aquifer. The Deer Creek CARA has no natural filtering protections.
  • Alternatively, a moratorium on the use of UIC wells inside CARAs and their adjoining buffers could be enacted until proven removal methods are adopted
  • Press Release 1/31/2025: Settlement Reached with City of Edmonds on EEC’s Appeal of the Deer Creek Aquifer Critical Area Regulations.
Key posts
Technical reports
2024 Madrona Stormwater Sampling ResultsDownload
Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) US EPADownload
Map showing Critical Aquifer Recharge Areas in Edmonds
Gray areas indicate the Qva layer exposed at the surface
  • Olympic View Water Deer Creek treatment facility
    Deer Creek Treatment Plant
  • Deer Creek Springs Outfall
    Deer Creek Springs Outfall
  • Madrona K8 School
    Madrona K8 School
PFAS drinking water contamination & Deer Creek Springs CARA in the News