Catoosa County, Georgia, has joined a growing wave of legal action against chemical manufacturers and carpet producers, alleging their products and waste disposal practices have led to severe PFAS contamination of local landfills and drinking water. The county filed a lawsuit late last month against 3M, EIDP, Daikin America, and Mohawk Industries, claiming negligence and failure to warn residents about the dangers of these “forever chemicals.”

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of man-made chemicals used in a wide range of products, including non-stick cookware, stain-resistant carpets, and firefighting foam. Known as “forever chemicals” due to their persistence in the environment and human body, PFAS have been linked to various health problems like cancer, thyroid disorders, and immune system dysfunction.

The lawsuit alleges that the major carpet manufacturer Mohawk Industries used PFAS-based products like Stainmaster, Scotchgard (made by 3M), and Teflon (formerly produced by EIDP, now by Chemours) in its carpet manufacturing process. The county claims that Mohawk boiled the carpets to apply these chemicals and then disposed of the resulting wastewater, containing high levels of PFAS, in a local landfill. This landfill, operational from 1979 to 2004, is now described in the lawsuit as “pickled in the chemicals.”

The lawsuit states that rainwater percolating through the landfill’s contaminated waste creates leachate, a polluted liquid that eventually flows into a wastewater treatment plant in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Catoosa County asserts that the levels of PFAS in their drinking water exceeds the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) recommended limits by a factor of 445 sometimes. The EPA’s advisory levels for certain PFAS range from 4 to 10 parts per trillion.

The situation has escalated to the point where Chattanooga city officials are demanding that Catoosa County test its leachate for PFAS contamination and have threatened to refuse the polluted liquid due to the presence of these forever chemicals.

Catoosa County’s lawsuit mirrors a similar action filed by neighboring Gordon County and Murray County, which also share the same wastewater treatment facility in Chattanooga.

Adding another layer to the complex legal landscape, Mohawk Industries itself filed a lawsuit against 3M, EIDP, Chemours, and Daikin America in November. Mohawk claims that these chemical giants concealed the risks associated with PFAS for decades, only informing them of the dangers in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Mohawk’s lawsuit seeks relief, including reimbursement for any PFAS-related remediation costs and compensatory damages.