These days, wastewater utilities often become scapegoats for community fears about per- and polyflouroalkyl substances (PFAS). But it doesn’t have to be that way. The Madison (Wisconsin) Metropolitan Sewerage District, a NEBRA member, has been working since 2019 to set the record straight about the utility’s role as a receiver of PFAS and to establish its place as a provider of facts and data to help people make informed, independent judgments about risks. Amanda Wegner, the District’s communications and public affairs director, sees evidence that the District has built community trust in its approach to handling PFAS.

 “I see the District as a role model on two fronts when it comes to PFAS,” Wegner wrote in an email this month. “One, we have a robust and ongoing sampling and analysis program; I recognize that having this information can be frightening for utilities, but you don’t know what you don’t know and need a starting point,” she said. “Secondly, tapping into that internal fear piece, we started communicating about PFAS before our initial sampling and analysis results,” Wegner said. “Transparency and acknowledging what you do and don’t know impacts public trust and perception, which is already tenuous for many public utilities,” she said.

Back in October, Wegner gave a NEBRA Lunch and Learn presentation that described key aspects of effective proactive PFAS communications, through the lens of the District’s experience since 2019. These communications tenets, fleshed out below, include listening first to identify your audience(s), and keeping your ear to the ground; building your network; planning your outreach; defining and sticking to your messages; and prioritizing trust and transparency.

Listen first and build your network

In 2019 in Madison, PFAS was already a heated topic following known PFAS contamination from an aircraft-rescue and firefighting training center and news in the mid-2010s about PFAS in a public drinking water well. Environmental groups and environmental justice advocates were vocal about PFAS. The District determined that its priority audience was the public.

More recently, the District has shifted its priority to a different audience: rural landowners and farmers who receive biosolids for land application, and their non-farming neighbors. The landowners and farmers, on whom the District relies, were not overly concerned in 2019. “In the past four years, that has shifted,” Wegner said, “especially as they are being pressured by their non-farming neighbors. These neighbors are also putting pressure on their local townships.”

Wegner encouraged utilities to engage in conversations about PFAS, and PFAS communications, with other utilities, state environmental and health agencies, local government agencies, and local groups. She noted that there are a lot of entities working on PFAS messaging and problem-solving right now.

Risk communications done right

Wegner said the District uses a risk-communication technique called message mapping, in which key messages and supporting facts are spelled out as talking points that staff can refer to whether they are writing, giving a presentation, or responding to a concerned caller. The District’s first iteration of its message maps addressed questions including “Can the district remove PFAS from wastewater? How does PFAS get into the wastewater and biosolids? What is the risk of PFAS exposure in biosolids?” and “Are the District’s biosolids safe?”

Above, a snippet from the District’s first iteration of message mapping.

Wegner noted that the District has updated its message maps over time. “The science of PFAS is constantly changing, and we initially did our message maps before we started our sampling and analysis program,” she said. “Our changes through the years were to accommodate new science and what we were learning about PFAS within our own wastewater system. Public sentiment also changes through time, which communicators must remain aware of and reflect in their messaging,” she said.

Wegner emphasized the importance of investing time up front to work with a team to hone messaging before putting it out in the world. “This is not a solo exercise. Bring multiple people to the table because they will have insight on those groups that you’re talking to,” she said. Wegner gave examples of people who could be involved in developing messaging, as applicable: the utility’s communications person, the general manager, legal counsel, the pre-treatment specialist, and a liaison to farmers.

The District’s central outreach tool is its educational website dedicated to all things PFAS for the District: madsewerpfasinitiative.org. Wegner said the website has been well received and shared as a resource.

Above, the landing page of the Madison Metropolitan Sewerage District’s dedicated PFAS website.

The website isn’t the only tool. For example, Wegner said that in 2024 the District may do a kind of roadshow with townships specifically to address concerns about land application of biosolids.

Trust and Transparency

In 2019, in addition to leaning into proactive communications, the District also committed to a fate and transport review and sampling and analysis, even though it wasn’t required to, and it shared the results on the website. Wegner said there were questions early on within the District about whether the results of the sampling should go on the website. “From the get-go my answer had always been, ‘Yes, we should. If we’re doing this, we should put it out there because that will have ripple effects down the line.’”  She continued, “If you’re a couple of years into communicating [about PFAS] and you haven’t thought about [trust and transparency], then you have to take some time to build that up.” Wegner said she’s heard fellow communicators at other water and wastewater utilities saying, “‘Our legal counsel would never let us do that.’” Wegner urges utility communicators to have those difficult conversations internally and to err on the side of sharing sampling results. “There are other means by which [the public] can get the information, so why not just put it out into the world to begin with?” she said. “Before you do, obviously have conversations. And maybe there are some things that you’re not really happy about. Maybe your results didn’t come back so great. Pre-plan on how you’re going to message that. You don’t have to drop it out into the world tomorrow, but I really encourage utilities to not hide their numbers. Even if they’re not great, it’s an opportunity for you to say how you can improve, what you’re going to do, what your next steps are. There are ways to leverage both the good and the bad.”

Keep Talking

Finally, Wegner made a plug for persistence. “You can’t just drop the talking point once and hope it sticks,” she said. To see the full presentation and discussion with Wegner, check out NEBRA’s October Lunch & Learn webinar titled “Navigating Dark Waters – The Importance of Proactive PFAS Communications”.

Additional Resources for Proactive PFAS Communications