Residents and vacation home owners near Lycksele Airport have for several years been hauling water containers from a tap after Djuptjärnsvägen, according to official sources. Measurements in several wells at the airport a couple of years ago showed high levels of PFAS that in several cases exceed current guideline values, the sources said. A total of 23 properties are affected by the contamination area, with five property owners having contaminated wells above limit values, the sources reported.
According to SVT Västerbotten, Benni Wingerli, chairman of Djuptjärnsföreningen, described that the municipality contaminated the land through its fire drills. The residents are calling for more promised measurements and see no other solution than getting municipal water, official sources reported, while the municipality wants to investigate more. Property owners have now lost trust in Lycksele Municipality and have written to the County Administrative Board requesting they take over supervision, according to official sources.
We are starting to become really desperate.
They are critical that the municipality approved excavation on a PFAS-contaminated site. According to SVT Västerbotten, Eric Lundström, operations manager for community building at Lycksele Municipality, described that in a larger perspective, there may be other alternatives that are more cost-effective. He also noted, according to SVT Västerbotten, that the municipality has contact with the County Administrative Board and knows that they think the municipality has control of the situation.
It remains unclear what specific cost-effective alternatives the municipality is considering instead of providing municipal water, when the promised additional PFAS measurements will be conducted, and whether the County Administrative Board will agree to take over supervision as requested by the property owners.
It was established that the municipality contaminated the land through its fire drills.
Looking at it from a larger perspective, there may be other alternatives that are more cost-effective.
We want someone impartial to take care of this.
We have contact with the County Administrative Board and know that they think we have control of the situation.