A Cape Cod town has settled a water contamination lawsuit with the surrounding county for $2.95 million.
The Cape Cod Times reports Barnstable County is repaying the town of Barnstable for capital costs associated with the cleanup. The payment is being spread out over a 20-year period, with interest making the total payment more than $3.6 million.
Filed last summer, the lawsuit centers on the contamination of the Hyannis water supply from chemicals used in firefighting foams by the Barnstable County Fire and Rescue Training Academy. Foams containing toxic perfluorinated chemicals were used at the academy until 2009, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency identifies the chemicals as "contaminants of emerging concern."
Both the town and county have filed separate lawsuits against the manufacturers of the foams.
