NILES — Niles City Council took emergency action Wednesday to join a nationwide legal fight against companies blamed for contaminating water supplies with so-called “forever chemicals.”

The legislation, passed unanimously during the council’s regular meeting, allows the city to hire Grossman & Kelly LLPof West Islip, New York. The law firm will represent Niles in a large nationwide lawsuit to help get money for the high costs of cleaning up the toxic substances.

Mayor Steve Mientkiewicz explained some of the details of the lawsuit.

“It’s known as the ‘forever chemical’ and was found in a variety of products,” he said. “Over the years, there have been class-action lawsuits across the country about it.”

He stated the city’s role in the settlement process, saying, “The settlement phase of this and pertaining to water distribution systems, and we get our water, as you know, from the MVSD, so they were included in the first round of settlements for testing and treating the water before it is distributed down the line to Niles and so forth.”

Mientkiewicz said he was confident in the current water quality.

“We feel very confident from the MVSD that all of the water is of quality, is of standard, is clean, going to cause health issues that is all treated and tested and being remedied at the MVSD.”

He also addressed the financial aspect of the settlement, “If we are awarded funding in this next round, it will go for us just to be a secondary tester, if you will. We currently per the EPA test for PFAs, do not show anything alarming again, because it is being tested at those again down down the chain still do have to perform PFAs testing for EPA guidelines.”

He added “… what this settlement will help do is help offset some of that, those EPA mandates for testing and or remedy PFAs.”

The chemicals, known as PFAS, are called “forever chemicals” because they do not easily break down in the environment or the human body. They have been used for decades in products like nonstick pans and firefighting foam. Studies have linked them to serious health risks.

Mientkiewicz talked about the financial responsibility, saying, “The potential cost for future testing and treatment systems is significant. Our position is that the financial burden for this cleanup should not fall on the citizens of Niles. It should be covered by the corporations that created and profited from these chemicals for decades.”

Last year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency set the first national limit for several PFAS in drinking water.

New guidelines require cities to begin testing their water by 2027 and, if the chemicals exceed the new standards, to have treatment systems in place by 2029 to reduce them.

In 2023, Ohio finalized a $110 million settlement with chemical manufacturers, including DuPont and Chemours, to address statewide PFAS contamination claims.

The Mahoning Valley Sanitary District was allocated $19.9 million of the state’s funds, which is being used to help finance its $150 million Granular Activated Carbon filtration plant. The plant was designed specifically to remove PFAS and ensure the region’s water supply complies with updated federal standards ahead of the 2029 deadline.