Augusta Utility Sues Paper Makers Over PFAS in Drinking Wells

The Greater Augusta Utility District has sued five paper, packaging and tissue companies in federal court, saying PFAS discharged from their plants over decades reached the drinking water wells it operates near the Kennebec River, WGME reported. The complaint was filed in early October 2026.

The district, which supplies water to roughly 13,750 people in and around Augusta, does not pin the pollution on a single source. It argues that PFAS from several industrial sites upstream moved into the river and the connected aquifer feeding its wells, carried by wastewater, sludge, landfill leachate and stormwater, according to WGME.

Named as defendants are Sappi North America, operator of the Somerset Mill in Skowhegan; Huhtamaki, which runs a Waterville plant; Kimberly-Clark, a former owner of a mill in Winslow; and two American Tissue entities linked to a shuttered Augusta mill.

The district says it first found PFAS in well water in October 2021 and that levels exceeded the state drinking water standard then in effect in November 2024. It pulled one well from service and later installed treatment.

A Sappi spokesperson told the CBS13 I-Team the company was reviewing the complaint and said Sappi "is in compliance with all environmental regulations." The other defendants did not comment.

The utility asks that the companies be held jointly and severally liable under CERCLA for monitoring, treatment and cleanup costs.

This story was first reported by WGME.