The lawsuit seeks reimbursement for any cost incurred by a member of NYRWA for testing, treatment, and remediation. We encourage you to register your system if you have detected PFAS at any level or your water supply is near an airport, military base, fire-fighting activity or a manufacturer who may have used these forever compounds. Your customers should not be held financially liable for these expenses resulting in increased water rates.
There are three key points you should know:
1. The lawsuit is against the manufactures of the compounds not a local company who may have used the compounds.
2. There is no upfront cost for the utility to register as a participant. All expense of the suit will come from the settlement.
3. Your utility will have the option of accepting or rejecting the settlement, so there is everything to gain and nothing to lose by registering your participation, however, you must be registered in the suit to participate in the settlement.
The law firm engaged in this suit, by NRWA, is Napoli Shkolnik who is nationally recognized as a leader in these types of environmental issues. Paul Napoli was part of the MTBE class action suit in the 80s and represented the 9-11 first responders. He and this firm are experts in water and wastewater environmental issues. More information is available at https://www.napolilaw.com/nrwa-pfas/
We strongly encourage your system to consider to register as a participant at https://www.napolilaw.com/nrwa-pfas/
For additional information contact the law firm or Sam Wade, who recently retired as the CEO of National Rural Water and is currently employed as a rural water consultant by Napoli Shkolnik law firm. His email is gswh20@gmail.com or cell: 580-917-1425.