The City of Stuart has finalized a $2.6 million settlement with DuPont as part of ongoing nationwide litigation involving per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS, chemicals historically used in firefighting foam and industrial applications.
The city is among numerous public water utilities seeking to recover costs tied to contamination and the treatment needed to maintain safe drinking water. The cases are part of the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam Products Liability Litigation, a multi-district case in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina.
Mayor Christopher Collins said the legal effort followed the discovery of contamination in the local supply.
"Effectively there were issues with PFOA in the local water supply. It has ultimately come to the City of Stuart being the bellwether case in this entire process," he said.
The settlement resulted in a gross recovery of $2,636,340.25. After attorneys’ fees and litigation-related expenses, the city received a net total of $1,777,044.82. City officials said the funds will support PFAS monitoring, treatment, regulatory compliance and protection of the drinking water system.
Collins described the agreement as one portion of a broader legal process that is still underway.
"The settlement is in a few different parts, but this is the initial piece of that settlement with DuPont. It hasn't yet come to fulfillment, but the 3M piece will be in the near future as well," he said.
He added that he hopes the money will be reinvested into water treatment infrastructure.
"That would be my hope, is that no matter who ends up and what seats politically, that moving forward and forever, that any money that is recovered through settlements is used for cleaning PFOA from the water, primarily the filters, there's resin filters that are required to clean up that water that are quite expensive," Collins said.
According to the mayor, the financial recovery could help reduce the burden on residents.
"It means that they're not going to be wholly responsible for paying for the cleanup via the resin filters, that there's grace there for them and that they can feel safe that the water is going to be clean that they're drinking," he said.
In a statement, Collins called the agreement “an important step in holding manufacturers accountable” and said protecting the city’s drinking water remains a top priority.
He also pointed to the city’s response after the contamination was identified.
"I would say even more than Martin County, the City of Stuart is really on the cutting edge in terms of water quality. We caught this really quickly and moved into building a reverse osmosis plant so that we had redundancy. And we've really been on the cutting edge with long-chain PFOA and potentially even short-chain PFOA going forward," he said.
Looking ahead, Collins said monitoring efforts will continue as the city evaluates emerging contaminants.
"The City does test and monitor for these compounds in the water so that they can adjust if they need to, turning off wells. But moving forward, we're doing a pilot program to start looking at short-chain PFOAs as well," he said.
PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they persist in the environment and can accumulate over time. City officials said Stuart regularly monitors water quality and is committed to meeting or exceeding state and federal drinking water standards, while claims against other defendants in the litigation remain ongoing.