The Olympic View Water and Sewer District is suing the Edmonds School District over chemicals found in the stormwater system at Edmonds’ Madrona K-8 School.

In a citizen lawsuit filed Monday, July 28, Olympic View alleges that the school district is violating the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, which prohibits the underground injection of contaminants that endanger drinking water sources.

The lawsuit comes after Olympic View issued a letter of intent in May to sue the district. That letter stated that the district wasn’t addressing the PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), also known as forever chemicals, found in the Madrona K-8 School stormwater system injection wells in October 2022.

The suit filed on Monday states that the school district is violating the Safe Drinking Water Act “each and every day it discharges PFAS-contaminated stormwater at concentrations that may violate the groundwater quality standards at Madrona K-8 via the UIC [underground injection control] wells to underground sources of drinking water.”

Olympic View General Manager Bob Danson said that this is a public health issue.

“We are urging the ESD [Edmonds School District] to take all necessary steps to stop discharging PFAS pollution at Madrona School and protect the aquifer as we enter the rainy season this fall,” Danson said in a press release.

The Safe Drinking Water Act was created to protect drinking water. It encompasses all waters, whether above ground or underground sources, that are currently or potentially designed for drinking use. The act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency to establish minimum standards to protect tap water. Further, it requires all owners or operators of public water systems to comply with the health-related standards.

PFAS are largely used in firefighting foams, nonstick cookware, and fire and stain-resistant fabrics and are found to cause cancer.

The Edmonds School District confirmed it has received and reviewed the complaint regarding PFAS at Madrona.

“The Edmonds School District disagrees with the allegations outlined in the citizen suit, including any assertion that the District is in violation of clean water standards and that the actions taken by the District to identify and assess PFAS at the Madrona K-8 school are inadequate,” said Edmonds School District spokesperson Amanda Ralston.

Ralston said that although some water samples taken from Madrona showed elevated levels of PFAS, no samples show any impact on groundwater, let alone drinking water sources.

“The District has been actively addressing the PFAS concerns under the supervision of the Department of Ecology,” she said. “The District is in full compliance with its stormwater permit and has been addressing PFAS at the Madrona School consistent with the direction provided by the Department of Ecology.”

The school district also said it has identified PFAS in the soil of the bioretention planter strips, which appear to have been introduced during school construction.

Following Ecology’s guidance, the District retained a contractor to replace the bioretention planter strips located in the bus loop and parking areas at Madrona, which will remove the identified source of PFAS.

Ralston said the project is underway and is scheduled for completion before the start of school this fall.