DuPont, 3M, and Raytheon are among the companies accused in a lawsuit of concealing their knowledge of deadly toxic chemicals, which they allegedly spread in firefighting foam.
The City of San Diego sued the three companies and 17 others alleging they caused water contamination, which allegedly leads to the development of cancer, fertility issues, and kidney and liver damage according to media reports.
“They are trying to maintain contamination below a certain level and if they find themselves in a situation where they can't maintain it, then they're going to be liable,” said Gokce Soydemir, an economics professor at California State University in Stanislaus who is Foster Farms endowed. “Before they are liable, they bring it out there, sue these companies and throw the ball in their court.”
The complaint alleges that chemicals, known as PFAS, were detected in wastewater from the Point Loma Wastewater Treatment Plant and South Bay Water Reclamation Plant.
"They probably knew it all along, but when they mixed it, it fell below the threshold of safe levels," Soydemir told the Southern California Record. "We see that even in Northern California whenever it rains, nitrates and fertilizer pollutants in the water increases, and then we get notification from the city saying, do not use water for 15 days."
A drought emergency was declared in November 2021 in which conservation measures were advised to reduce water usage and, in May, the State Water Resources Control Board approved emergency drought regulations, which include water shortage contingency plans.
“The water rates are higher, there's drought and they have to conserve, which means they have to resort to these water resources that are of lesser quality,” Soydemir said. “That means the percentage of these pollutants is higher so they're probably saving themselves before anybody else discovers there are so many pollutants in there.”
State data shows groundwater use accounts for 41% of the state's total water supply on an average annual basis but as much as 58% in a critically dry year and approximately 85% of public water systems rely on groundwater as their primary supply.
“Wells and underground water have less quality so the percentage of these pollutants in that water increases apparently,” Soydemir added.