PFAS Filtration Plant Shows Costs, Challenge of Water Treatment

The Yorba Linda Water District in Orange County, Calif., is so proud of its $28 million PFAS filtration plant, considered the largest in the US, that it hosts regular tours of Boy Scouts, school groups, and on Monday, a group from South Korea.

The need for the filtration plant is representative of the widespread PFAS contamination in groundwater and stream water in Southern California, and it symbolizes the costs that the YLWD and 14 other drinking water utilities in the region are suing to recoup from manufacturers of PFAS-containing firefighting foam or its components.

Unlike nearby Los Angeles, the Yorba ...