Hartford Business Journal

12 HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | MARCH 9, 2026 Lucy Teixeira, president of Aquarion Water Co., says the company's roughly $150 million PFAS remediation program reflects the contamination risk inherent in its groundwater-dependent supply network. HBJ Photo | Steve Laschever Capital Reckoning CT water utilities face hundreds of millions in PFAS compliance costs that could reshape industry in Greenwich. In total, Aquarion's expo- sure approaches $150 million. Connecticut Water, owned by Califor- nia-based H2O America, faces similar scale. The company, which serves 60 towns and operates 235 active wells and 18 surface water supplies, relies on groundwater for roughly 72% of its daily demand. It has detected PFAS above federal limits at 26 sources and estimates roughly $200 million in total PFAS spending over time. Aquarion President Lucy Teixeira notes that water utilities are being tasked with removing contamination caused by other industries. "We didn't cause the contamination — we have to help remove it," Teixeira said. "But it doesn't mean we've been lax in any way." Treatment strategy To meet the new standards, utilities are installing filtration systems at affected wells and treatment plants or, in some cases, shutting down contam- inated sources and connecting them to cleaner supplies. Most filtration systems rely on either activated carbon — which filters PFAS from large volumes of water — or ion exchange resin, a more compact treat- ment often used at groundwater wells. In certain cases, the most cost-ef- fective solution is interconnection: taking a contaminated well offline and extending a water main to a nearby PFAS-free source. Four of Aquarion's eight completed projects have used that approach. "When you look at your cost in the short term and long term, if it's not too far (to extend a water main), it definitely makes the difference," said Daniel Lawrence, Aquarion's vice president of engineering, planning and real estate. Connecticut Water is applying that approach in Madison, extending a main roughly one mile to connect its 26-customer Green Springs system to a PFAS-free source in Guilford rather than constructing a standalone treatment facility. Meanwhile, national demand for PFAS treatment equipment has strained supply chains, driving up costs and compressing timelines as utilities race toward compliance deadlines. "Every water company has to provide some degree of treatment, and there are only so many suppliers of the equipment required," said Patla, the Connecticut Water CEO. "You have to have secured procurement of them by now to have any reasonable confi- dence in meeting a 2029 compliance date — which is precisely why there's heavy pressure on EPA to extend the deadline." Paying for it Utilities are financing PFAS upgrades through a number of ways, including low-interest federal loans and subsidies under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Litigation against PFAS manufac- turers has provided partial offsets. Aquarion has received $15.5 million from settlements with 3M and DuPont and expects roughly $25 million in total recoveries. Connecticut Water received about $7.6 million in 2025 from the same settlements, with additional payments anticipated over nine years. Even so, significant costs will be By Andrew Larson alarson@hartfordbusiness.com F or decades, firefighting foam used at military bases, airports and training facilities across Connecticut seeped into soil and groundwater, contaminating drinking water sources with so-called "forever chemicals." Now, water utilities are confronting the cost of removing them. Connecticut's largest water compa- nies are advancing plans to comply with new federally enforceable drinking water standards for PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has set a 2029 deadline for mitigation. The price tag: hundreds of millions of dollars. The spending wave, experts said, is reshaping an industry already grappling with aging infrastructure and a frag- mented network of small, financially constrained water systems — dynamics that could accelerate consolidation. The EPA established maximum contaminant levels for several PFAS compounds in 2024, marking the first nationwide enforceable limits. While the agency is considering extending the compliance deadline to 2031, Bridgeport-based Aquarion Water Co. and Connecticut Water Co. say they are planning for whichever timeline ultimately applies. Craig Patla, president and CEO of Clinton-based Connecticut Water, described the current moment as one of "unprecedented complexity" as PFAS mitigation, aging infrastructure and increasingly severe climate events converge. He noted the American Society of Civil Engi- neers gives the nation's water infrastructure a C-minus, and water mains installed between 100 and 150 years ago are approaching the end of their useful lives. "We've got to be in front of that, knowing what our role is in providing clean drinking water for the communities that we serve," Patla said in a recent inter- view with the Hartford Business Journal. What are PFAS? PFAS — a class of thousands of synthetic chemicals used in products such as nonstick cookware, food packaging and firefighting foam — are known as forever chemicals because they do not break down easily in the environment. Certain PFAS compounds have been linked to kidney and testic- ular cancer, thyroid disease, immune system suppression and developmental effects in children. For water utilities, the EPA's new standards represent more than a compliance exercise. Patla said drinking water systems are the first large-scale infrastructure designed to systematically remove PFAS from the environment — an effort that will likely expand over time to wastewater and other contamination pathways. "Water represents, really, the first ability to remove PFAS from the environment," he said. "But to be clear, these compounds remain in the envi- ronment. This is just the first of what hopefully will be many opportunities to remove it." Exposure and compliance The impact of PFAS remediation varies widely across Connecticut's highly fragmented water landscape, which includes over 2,300 water systems ranging from large investor-owned util- ities to small homeowner associations serving only a handful of customers. Aquarion and Connecticut Water — both owned by publicly traded utilities — face steep price tags because they rely heavily on groundwater wells, where contamination is most prevalent. By contrast, the Metropolitan District Commission, which serves Hartford and surrounding towns, draws entirely from protected surface water reser- voirs and has not detected PFAS, a spokesman said. The South Central Connecticut Regional Water Authority, serving much of Greater New Haven, sources about 80% of its supply from surface reservoirs and reports little detectable PFAS. Aquarion, which serves more than 60 Connecticut municipalities and 236,000 customer accounts, has identified 31 of its 106 wells and surface-water supplies that require PFAS treatment. Eight projects costing about $20 million are complete. The company, which is owned by Eversource Energy, projects another $88 million in mitigation through 2031, excluding a planned $40 million to $50 million replacement of its aging Putnam surface water treatment plant Craig Patla

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