Wausau Superfund Site: “PFAS Draft Results Had Detections at all 14 Locations”
- PFAS, Wausau Superfund Site
- May 22, 2026
According to a public record posted on the DNR’s BRRTS database this week, draft results for PFAS groundwater testing at the Wausau superfund site along the Wisconsin River had detections in all 14 locations. The specific PFAS concentrations detected in the groundwater remain unclear, as the revelation about the results occurs simply as a note for an action item in a document pertaining to a monthly check-in meeting among the EPA, DNR, and the site’s environmental consultant (GHD). That public record is the most recent uploaded document to the site’s DNR BRRTS page — 02-37-000017 WAUSAU GW CONTAMINATION (SF NPL) — at the time of this posting.
The meeting document, which is embedded below, also references an ongoing process for VOC vapor intrusion testing inside of private properties near the superfund.
While the EPA and DNR are both involved, the City of Wausau is evidently a Responsible Party at the site. Lack of any apparent generation of broader public awareness or public participation on the vapor issue from the city government’s own efforts, or lack thereof, triggered criticism at the April 28, 2026 Wausau City Council meeting. The scrutiny was part of broader criticism at the meeting about the City of Wausau’s environmental committee, which is tasked under municipal code (2.60.090 – Sustainability, Energy and Environment Committee) as being the primary “advisory body to the Common Council in the development of policies, programs, and decisions that affect the relationship between the City and the environment.”
The public comments at the meeting in April also addressed significant information from the 1980s about potential contamination on the former Connor Forest Industries property in Wausau that, seemingly, some in municipal government actively concealed from the public at the time.
Download and Review a PDF of the Record
