Industrial companies that Wausau is suing over PFAS contamination in its drinking water are arguing the city itself should share the cleanup costs, pointing to claims Wausau made in an earlier lawsuit about firefighting foam used by its own fire department.
The dispute traces back to June 2023, when Wausau sued 3M and other makers and suppliers of aqueous film-forming foam, known as AFFF, with a second suit against the foam makers following in 2024. In those cases the city said PFAS in foam the Wausau Fire Department used for firefighting and training reached the groundwater that feeds the city's six municipal wells, and that the manufacturers had known for decades the chemicals could contaminate soil and water without giving adequate warnings. Wausau sought the cost of testing, treating and cleaning up its water.
In January 2025 the city filed a separate suit against more than a dozen industrial companies that operated in the area, including Georgia-Pacific, Wausau Paper, Marathon Electric, Graphic Packaging and Wausau Chemical, saying their operations also contributed to the contamination of the same wells and asking them to cover past and future cleanup costs.
The industrial companies denied responsibility, and several filed counterclaims under the federal Superfund law, CERCLA. They argue Wausau cannot blame its fire department's foam for the contamination in one case while blaming industry for the same contamination in another. Georgia-Pacific asked the court to assign most or all of the cleanup cost to the city if the company is found liable, and other defendants argue the city's own allegations make it a potentially responsible party that should pay a share.
Wausau denies the counterclaims, citing governmental immunity and saying its waste practices complied with applicable rules and the standards of the time. The foam connection also decided where the industrial case would be heard: a federal judicial panel transferred it in June 2025 to the court in South Carolina overseeing the nationwide firefighting foam litigation, finding both cases involve the sources of PFAS in the same six wells, and in April 2026 the judge denied Wausau's request to send the case back to Wisconsin.
Some of the litigation has already settled. Wausau has received about $5 million under a nationwide settlement with 3M, with more payments expected, and earlier this month the city approved a $300,000 settlement with Wausau Paper in the industrial case. The remaining industrial defendants continue to dispute responsibility.
