PARK CITY, Utah — "Forever chemicals" were found in Park City's groundwater wells, and under new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency, the city has five years to fix it.
In three weeks, the new Three Kings Water Treatment Plant will begin operations. It's a project that has been in the works for ten years.
"It's 5,000 gallons a minute," explained Michelle de Haan, Park City's water quality and treatment manager. "It's going to become the main supply for the city."
While her department gets ready for opening day, they're also reacting to the latest regulations from the EPA.
The EPA announced a final drinking water regulation for PFAS, or forever chemicals, in drinking water.
Maximum contaminant levels should be at four parts per trillion, but Park City's level is currently around eight parts per trillion.
De Haan said the compounds in the groundwater wells were traced back to fluorinated wax, or fluorowax.
"Fluorowax is a very slippery kind of wax that's traditionally been used for racing and high end competitions for decades," explained Richard Hodges, the Nordic director of White Pine Touring Center.
Park City banned fluorowax back in Feb. 2023.
Hodges said the community's been supportive and has been dropping it off at the White Pine Touring Center and Recycle Utah to be properly disposed.
"The waxes, the fluorowaxes have been very, vey expensive and so it takes a minute for people to give up on that expense they made years ago," he explained.
It was expensive to purchase, but nowhere near as expensive to filter from the water supply.
One treatment option could cost Park City $20 million. Luckily, this is something the department's been monitoring since 2019.
"We've been very ahead of the curve and ready for this," said De Haan.
She said a cheaper, achievable solution is with the new treatment plant.
"We'll be able to achieve these new limits without treatment because we can actively blend them in the system before they're served to customers," said De Haan. "It's a huge savings for the community. We're consciously doing everything we can to reduce the concentrations now."
Park City plans on hosting an open house for the treatment plant in June.
