Veolia Files Delaware Lawsuit Seeking Recovery Of PFAS Treatment Costs From Alleged Polluters

Wilmington, DE — Veolia has filed a lawsuit in Delaware Superior Court against nine companies it alleges are responsible for PFAS contamination in watersheds that supply drinking water to customers in northern Delaware.

The legal action seeks to ensure that the costs of removing regulated PFAS compounds from drinking water are borne by the parties allegedly responsible for the contamination rather than by Veolia's customers. Any proceeds recovered through litigation or settlement would be used to help mitigate costs incurred by approximately 40,000 Veolia water customers in Delaware.

“Veolia has been, and will continue to be, required to make significant and costly upgrades to the Stanton Plant and will incur significant maintenance and ongoing costs required to operate and maintain those upgrades, as well as to engage in the regular monitoring of PFAS levels,” Veolia says in its legal filing. “Veolia brings this action against Defendants in an effort to recover the costs to treat and remove PFAS from its drinking water system and to ensure that Veolia has the resources necessary to continue to provide its customers and members of the public with safe drinking water that meets federal and state drinking water standards, and federal and state law and regulations.”

In March 2025, Veolia placed into service a major PFAS treatment facility at its Stanton Water Treatment Plant in Wilmington. The facility is designed to remove regulated PFAS compounds from up to 30 million gallons of water per day and serves a region of approximately 100,000 people. Drawing water from the Red Clay and White Clay creeks, the plant utilizes 42 granular activated carbon vessels and is among the largest purpose-built PFAS treatment facilities in the United States.

The lawsuit seeks recovery of at least $34.6 million in capital costs associated with construction of the Stanton PFAS treatment facility, along with ongoing operating and maintenance expenses estimated at more than $3.5 million annually.

Veolia continues to invest in advanced treatment technologies to meet federal and state drinking water standards and is deploying PFAS treatment solutions at more than 100 sites across the United States as utilities work to address emerging contaminants and protect public health.

“Defendants reasonably should have known that PFAS could harm the environment, but failed to take meaningful steps to prevent or mitigate the foreseeable contamination to Delaware’s natural resources and Veolia’s source watershed,” the complaint says. “Likewise, each of the Defendants reasonably should have known that they were releasing potentially toxic PFAS into the environment through their operations and use of PFAS at several industrial sites throughout Delaware, but the Defendants failed to take any or sufficient actions to remedy such harm or to disclose the risks to regulators, Veolia, or the Delaware public.”