Tucson Standard

Tucson Water will receive $25 million in federal funding to aid in the installation of new treatment systems for the removal of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from contaminated groundwater.

Arizona’s Department of Environmental Quality recently made the announcement and said the funds will be allocated by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, according to a Dec. 23 KGUN 9 report.

“We are all too aware of the painful history of water contamination in our region, especially those impacting disadvantaged communities," said Tucson Mayor, Regina Romero. "There is much work to do to clean up PFAS throughout the Tucson region, and this is an important step forward."

The funding will also be used to provide more treatment improvements for the Tucson Airport Remediation Project (TARP), where contaminated groundwater is already undergoing treatment, according to the report.

"To date, Tucson Water has spent over $30 million to address PFAS locally, continuing to test all drinking water sources for the compounds across its 390 square mile service area, turning off contaminated wells and drilling new ones in clean areas, and removing PFAS at TARP," the city of Tucson said in a statement.

“The investment in the new treatment process will allow the original TARP remedy to continue without the threat of having to turn off the plant because of the inability to treat for PFAS contamination,” said Tucson Water Director, John Kmiec.