In late 2022, Kalispell city officials were first notified that PFAS, or forever chemicals, had been detected in part of the city’s water supply. The city didn’t formally notify residents until March 2024. The Daily Inter Lake's Jack Underhill is based in Kalispell and has been following the situation. He sat down with MTPR’s Elinor Smith to explain the timeline of discovery and how city officials handled the information.
Elinor Smith: Jack, thank you so much for being here today.
Jack Underhill: Thanks so much for having me.
Smith: Of course. So to start off, can we explain what we mean when we say forever chemicals? What are the substances we're talking about here?
Underhill: So PFAS or, the longer scientific term is, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. There are a group of man made chemicals that have been widely used in the US since the 1940s. They've been used in so many everyday products. Mainly used for their water resistant properties. They're chemicals that have been found all over the world. They contaminate the water, food and air. The reason they get the forever chemical name is that they break down very slowly over time. And they build up in the human body over time as well.
Smith: So city officials first talked about these chemicals' presence in 2022. When did they formally tell residents about the contamination in the wells?
Underhill: The city council held a public meeting, a regularly scheduled city council meeting, back in the fall of 2022. The public works department notified the council that these chemicals were detected in Kalispell’s drinking water. But more testing was needed before the public would be, I guess, largely notified. But, public notice wasn't released until March of 2024, informing residents that the public water system had discovered PFAS in two of the 11 drinking water well sources in the city.
Smith: What was their reasoning for holding off on notifying the public for so long?
Underhill: The city waited to release a public notice because there was limited guidance from the Environmental Protection Agency. There was not yet any federal regulations on the amount of PFAS that could be in drinking water wells. There was only health advisories that were non-regulatory. Talking to the city, they wanted to wait for more guidance from the EPA — looking for more regulation to come out. A counselor described it as avoiding yelling fire in a crowded room.
Smith: So what have city officials said they're planning to do next to address the issue?
Underhill: Yeah. So back in October of 2024 a filtration system was installed at the Grand View well site — the well site that was testing above the federally mandated limits. And that has since been effectively filtering out the chemicals. But in the long term, the city is looking to replace both of the contaminated wells and digging new ones elsewhere in the city.
Smith: Well, Jack, if MTPR listeners wanna follow up about the PFAS where can they find more of your work?
Underhill: So I'm a reporter with the Daily Inter Lake based in Kalispell, Montana. You can find more of my reporting at dailyinterlake.com. And I'll be following the city's efforts to replace the two contaminated wells. And yeah, you can look for more of my work there.
Smith: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for being here today.
Underhill: Thank you so much for having me, Elinor.
Smith: Of course.
