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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Michael Phillis and Helen Wieffering

When forever chemicals contaminate drinking water, private well owners may be the last to know

PFAS-Forever Stained-Wells - (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

Kristen Hanneman made a small decision in 2022 that would upend life for her entire town.

State scientists were checking private drinking water wells across Wisconsin for a widely used family of harmful chemicals called PFAS. They mailed an offer to test the well outside her tidy farmhouse surrounded by potato farms cut out of dense forest. Without much thought, she accepted.

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