Salisbury, Maryland, residents have filed a class action lawsuit against a Perdue Farms subsidiary over PFAS contamination found in groundwater on its site.

The federal lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court of Maryland, alleges that Perdue AgriBusiness was reckless in its disposal of PFAS-containing wastewater, causing the groundwater beneath its site in Salisbury to become contaminated.

The suit alleges that contamination has spread into the neighboring residential community. The class action covers all property owners in a roughly 3.25-square-mile area, which is believed to be the “contamination zone.” It also includes any individuals who lived, worked, or attended school or church in the affected area for at least six months, dating back to 1985.

PFAS are an expansive group of manmade chemicals, which were first used decades ago because of their heat, oil and water-resistant properties. They’ve been used in a variety of products, including outdoor gear, nonstick pans, food packaging and medical devices, and because they do not deteriorate readily in the environment, they are known by the nickname “forever chemicals.” Some have been linked to medical conditions, including certain types of cancer, and have been phased out, while others remain in use today.

To determine radius used in the suit, the law firm representing the residents consulted with hydro-geologists and environmental engineers, who created a model showing the ways in which contaminated water would have flowed from Perdue’s site and into the community, said attorney Phil Federico. As the firm obtains more data, the radius could grow, Federico said, but the firm does not believe it will shrink, based on the information and test results it has obtained thus far.

“We’re comfortable with where we are now, based on currently available data, that areas in the community beyond the Perdue property have been negatively impacted,” Federico said.

In a statement, Perdue called the PFAS contamination a “developing situation.”

“The presence and source of PFAS in nearby residential wells has not yet been determined,” Perdue spokesperson Andrea Staub wrote. “We recognize the concern this may cause nearby property owners and as we have previously shared, we are fully cooperating with MDE and actively investigating all possibilities, including other potential sources in the area.”

Federico said his team is also confident that Perdue is the source of the groundwater contamination.

“If this was in an industrial area with a lot of plants right around each other, then it’s a little more complicated,” Federico said. “We’re very comfortable that there’s no other source in the area that could produce this much PFAS.”

The problem came to light in September 2023, when the Maryland Department of the Environment tested the wastewater at the Perdue AgriBusiness site on Zion Church Road in Salisbury, and discovered high PFAS levels. The site includes an office building, hatcheries, a feed mill, a soybean extraction plant, an oil refinery and grain storage infrastructure. Many of those buildings are hooked up to Perdue’s own wastewater treatment plant.

The wastewater levels were 694 parts per trillion of PFOS and 40 parts per trillion of PFOA, both variants of PFAS, according to the agency. In drinking water, the federal government’s new limit is 4 parts per trillion.

Maryland environmental officials did additional testing on the wastewater, and began testing the groundwater under Perdue’s site. The groundwater testing, returned in January, featured a range of PFAS levels, from low concentrations to as much as 1,370 for PFOS, according to MDE.

Then, MDE required Perdue to drill additional wells closer to its property line to sample for PFAS. MDE received the results in August, which also featured a range of PFAS levels, as high as 1,300 parts per trillion for a compound called PFHxS, for which the drinking water standard is 10 parts per trillion, according to MDE.

In early October, Perdue revealed the investigation publicly, stating it was offering free well testing to residents within a half-mile of the facility (about 550 homes), and free bottled water upon request.

The regulations for PFAS have evolved recently, with a growing body of science about the chemicals. Up until recently, the federal government only had a guideline suggesting that some harmful PFAS be limited to 70 parts per trillion in drinking water. The new 4 parts per trillion limit, however, is enforceable for public water systems.

The new class action suit states that Perdue’s treated wastewater, which MDE found contained PFAS, is released into the Peggy’s Branch stream near the site, and also used to irrigate nearby farmland. That wastewater then seeped into the groundwater aquifer, according to the suit, which supplies drinking water to nearby homes.

“During years when Defendants were spray irrigating or otherwise discharging its wastewater to surrounding fields, it failed to perform adequate testing of the wastewater, so as to ensure it did not have excessive levels of hazardous substances,” reads the lawsuit. “Defendants understood that the water had the ability to migrate into groundwater and reach community drinking water supplies, including private wells.”

This summer, in an unrelated case, Perdue paid the second largest civil penalty in MDE’s history, a $12 million fine for air pollution from its soybean processing facility at the Salisbury site.

Federico said the goal of the suit is to get transparency about Perdue’s disposal of PFAS on the site, and to bring the contamination to a halt. It’s also to win compensation for impacted homeowners, who may need to be hooked up to public water or receive PFAS treatment technology for their well water. The individuals also are owed compensation for any decline in property values stemming from the PFAS discovery, and for medical costs they incur because of illness, or because of medical monitoring they undergo for PFAS-related conditions, Federico said.

The class action includes six named participants so far, all of whom live in the 3.25-square-mile area surrounding Perdue’s facility. According to the suit, several of the residents have suffered medical conditions with known links to PFAS exposure, which can include kidney and testicular cancer, high cholesterol and reproductive issues, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The suit does not disclose the specific medical problems suffered by the class members.

“Good companies, from time to time, can inadvertently make mistakes. The way we determine how good the company really is, is you look at the mistakes they make: Do they fix the problem?” Federico said.

For its part, Perdue said in a statement that its “commitment to being a responsible neighbor is unwavering,” pledging to “continue to engage transparently with our neighbors.”

“We have always prioritized the safety and well-being of our community,” Staub wrote. “And this case is no exception.”

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