Residents of about 50 homes in Anoka County are still relying on bottled water to drink, cook food and brush their teeth, a year after state regulators found pollution in their wells.
And it is still unclear if, or when, they'll be able to drink from their faucets again after a lawmakers failed to fund a plan to hook up the Red Oaks neighborhood to the city of Andover's water lines.
"It's old. It's really old. It's beyond frustrating," said Betsy Berg, who has lived in the neighborhood for 36 years. "We're all sick of hauling around these 40-pound jugs all the time."
Adding to the frustration is that state regulators still don't know where the pollution came from, how far it reaches and, ultimately, who is responsible for paying for its cleanup.
Last summer, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MCPA) found high levels of dioxane 1,4, an industrial chemical that likely causes cancer, among other major health issues, in the Red Oaks neighborhood. The agency was testing to monitor a closed landfill — one of the most polluted sites in the state — that sits just to the northeast of the homes. But strangely, the wells with the highest concentrations of contamination were those farthest from the landfill — a sign that the pollution may have come from elsewhere.
Early tests showed about 40 homes were exceeding health standards for the chemical, while another dozen had levels just under Minnesota Department of Health thresholds.
More testing revealed more pollution. In June, the MPCA found high levels of dioxane 1,4 in the wells of three more homes, bringing the new total to 53. All the homes with the pollution problem are on private wells. The chemical has not been found in any homes connected to the city's water line, which draws water from a different source and is treated.
It doesn't surprise Berg that pinning down the source of the pollution has been difficult. She's been in the area long enough to remember that the grocery stores and shopping centers to the south of the neighborhood were built atop former junk yards. She just hopes that the search for a culprit, or the exact extent of the pollution, doesn't delay the needed fixes for her and her neighbors.
"The MPCA just hasn't done a whole lot, not anymore than a year ago," she said. "We're at a standstill."
Both the MPCA and the city of Andover believe the quickest solution is to close the private wells and hook up the neighborhood to city water — a project that could cost about $5.5 million.
Gov. Tim Walz asked lawmakers to fund that as part of much larger bonding bill, but the DFL-controlled House and GOP-controlled Senate couldn't agree on the entirety of that bill, so no project was funded.
Andover City Manager Jim Dickinson said he still hopes that the Legislature will hold a special session before the end of the year to approve funding.
"In the meantime, we're taking care of survey work and getting everything else prepped so when funding is in place we can pull the trigger," he said.
Finding the source and the size of the contamination plume may take a long time. The MPCA will continue testing wells in the area, said John Hunter, MPCA project manager.
"Those receiving [bottled] water will continue to receive it," he said.
Most residents have resigned themselves to a long wait, said Monika Dipert, who has been using bottled water for a year.
"I kind of knew this would happen," she said. "You fall prey to their schedules. Politicians sound like they take it seriously, but then they don't really do any work for it. They told us we'd get water this year. With any luck, we'll get water next year."
