New Hampshire has received a nearly $7.3 million disbursement from a national settlement with 3M Company, the fourth settlement the state has reached with manufacturers of forever chemicals to remediate contamination of public water sources.
Settlement payments have returned more than $43 million to the state’s Drinking Water and Groundwater Trust Fund, established in November 2025 to allocate funds to water systems affected by contamination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also referred to as PFAS or “forever chemicals.”
“We have more work to do to hold the manufacturers of harmful PFAS compounds and [aqueous film-forming foam] accountable for the contamination of New Hampshire’s waters, soils and other natural resources,” Attorney General John Formella said in a statement. “We will not stop fighting until these polluters pay their fair share to clean up the mess they created and protect the health of our citizens.”
The state has received disbursements from settlements with 3M, DuPont, Tyco and BASF, and it expects additional payments will continue through 2033, according to the office of the attorney general.
In administering the settlement fund, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services determines eligibility based on a water system’s PFAS test results and documentation demonstrating that, by undertaking mitigation efforts, a water system has or will incur costs.
More than four dozen public water systems have been approved to receive funding from the settlement fund, according to most up-to-date information available through February 2026, including Northbrook MHP in Belmont, Pembroke Water Works, Lochmere Village District in Tilton and the Epsom Village Water District.
In Epsom, where elevated levels of PFAS were detected during a routine test of one of the water district’s two wells in January 2024, remediation efforts were estimated to cost $6.15 million. Leadership vacancies have, however, thwarted the town’s ability to embark on its remediation project.
