MN cities get little from water settlement
Ten Minnesota cities are getting payments as part of a class action lawsuit against the makers of the herbicide Atrazine.
The money is to compensate cities for treating Atrazine in drinking water.
The largest share of the $105 million settlement will go to cities in corn belt states such as Illinois and Indiana.
The settlement paid about $100,000 to 10 Minnesota cities.
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Patrick Shea, director of public services for St. Cloud, said the city found Atrazine in the Mississippi River in the 1990s.
"As a result of that, the lawsuit that went forward compensated users or municipalities that had to remove Atrazine," Shea said.
St. Cloud received $8,000 as part of the settlement. Shea said the Minnesota settlements were small because the compensation is based on the level and persistence of Atrazine in the water.
"It was kind of a hit or miss and that factored in to the calculation determining what a municipality would be reimbursed for," Shea said. "Essentially what this is saying is that the source water or surface water that drinking water suppliers in Minnesota were taking out of really had very low concentrations of Atrazine."
Cities receiving payment include Mankato, Goodhue, Bellechester, Balaton, Fairmont, Lake Wilson, Cold Spring, St. Cloud, Lewiston and the town of Altura.