If your municipality operates a public water system, you may be entitled to a share of more than $12.5 billion in PFAS settlement funds. But chances are, you didn’t hear about it from the EPA. You didn’t get a call from your state environmental agency. And no one from the federal government showed up to explain the opportunity.
So where’s the disconnect?
The answer actually tells you something important about what this settlement is, how it works, and why so many eligible water systems are at risk of missing out.
This Is a Civil Settlement, Not a Government Program
The PFAS settlement is the result of litigation, not legislation. Public water systems across the country sued 3M, DuPont, and other chemical manufacturers for contaminating water sources with PFAS. The companies agreed to pay billions to resolve those claims.
The EPA wasn’t involved in negotiating the settlement. Your state didn’t administer it. This is a private legal matter between plaintiffs (water systems) and defendants (chemical manufacturers), overseen by a federal court.
“The EPA regulates drinking water standards, but they don’t manage private legal settlements,” explains Marcus Chen, Recovery Director at ERCZilla. “This settlement came from a lawsuit, not a regulatory program. That’s why the notification process looks completely different from what municipal officials expect.”
The case is officially known as the Aqueous Film-Forming Foam Products Liability Litigation, Multi-District Litigation No. 2:18-mn-2873, overseen by the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina. It’s one of the largest environmental class actions in U.S. history.
The settlements with 3M and DuPont received final court approval in 2024. Phase 1 payments are already being distributed to participating water systems. This isn’t pending or proposed. It’s happening now.
How Notification Actually Worked
When a class action settlement is approved, the court requires that class members be notified. For this settlement, notification was sent primarily through legal notices mailed to registered water system contacts.
Here’s where it breaks down.
Legal notices don’t look like official government correspondence. They arrive in plain envelopes. They contain dense legal language referencing case numbers and court proceedings. To someone sorting through a stack of mail, they look exactly like junk mail.
“We’ve spoken with water system managers who found the original notice buried in unopened mail months later,” says Sarah Mitchell, Municipal Partnerships Lead at ERCZilla. “Others never received it because their contact information on file was outdated. The notification went somewhere, just not to the right person.”
Municipal offices receive dozens of pieces of mail daily. Administrative staff make quick decisions about what deserves attention and what gets set aside. A legal notice about a class action settlement, addressed to a generic contact, often doesn’t make the cut.
The result: thousands of eligible water systems have no idea they’re entitled to settlement funds. Not because the settlement isn’t real, but because the notification system wasn’t designed for how busy municipal offices actually operate.
What the Structure Tells You About Legitimacy
The fact that this didn’t come through government channels isn’t a red flag. It’s exactly how class action settlements work.
Consider what is verifiable:
The court case exists. MDL No. 2:18-mn-2873 is a matter of public record. The docket is searchable. The filings are public. Any attorney can pull the documents.
The settlements are court-approved. A federal judge reviewed the terms, held fairness hearings, and issued final approval orders in 2024. Those orders are public record.
Money is already flowing. Phase 1 water systems have submitted claims and are receiving payments. The settlement isn’t theoretical. It’s operational.
The defendants are real companies. 3M and DuPont are publicly traded corporations. Their settlement obligations are disclosed in SEC filings. The $12.5 billion isn’t a made-up number.
“You can verify every aspect of this through official court documents,” notes David Park, PFAS Claims Specialist at ERCZilla. “We can provide copies of the Court Approval Orders for your legal counsel to review. The case number alone gives you everything you need to confirm this independently.”
The structure of the settlement, court-supervised, publicly documented, already distributing funds, is actually stronger evidence of legitimacy than a government program would be. Government programs can be defunded or modified. A court-approved settlement is a binding legal obligation.
Why This Matters for Phase 2 Water Systems
Phase 1 of the settlement covered water systems that had already detected PFAS before the settlement date. Those systems have filed claims and are receiving funds.
Phase 2 covers everyone else: systems that detected PFAS after the settlement date, systems that haven’t tested yet, and systems that tested but hadn’t reported results. This is the majority of eligible water systems.
Phase 2 claims must be submitted by July 2026.
That deadline isn’t flexible. It’s not a soft target that might get extended. It’s a court-established cutoff. Water systems that miss it forfeit their right to settlement funds permanently and have already waived the right to sue independently.
“The notification problem becomes a deadline problem,” Chen says. “Systems that didn’t know about the settlement in 2024 still have time. But that window is closing. Starting the process in 2025 gives adequate time for testing and documentation.”
What Municipal Officials Should Do Now
If your water system serves 3,300 or more people, or is required to test under EPA’s UCMR-5 program, you’re likely eligible for settlement funds. The fact that you haven’t received official notification doesn’t change your eligibility. It just means the notice didn’t reach you.
Here’s how to move forward:
Verify independently if you want to. Search MDL 2:18-mn-2873 in federal court records. Have your legal counsel review the Court Approval Orders. Confirm what you’ve been told.
Understand your timeline. Phase 2 deadlines start in January 2026 for testing cost reimbursement and run through July 2026 for Action Fund claims. The process requires testing, documentation, and submission. Earlier is better.
Talk to someone who knows the process. The claims process has specific requirements. Working with a firm that understands those requirements reduces the risk of errors or missed deadlines.
ERCZilla helps eligible municipalities navigate the claims process. We verify eligibility, coordinate testing, prepare documentation, and ensure claims are submitted on time. We work on contingency, which means you pay nothing unless we recover funds.
Schedule a brief eligibility review to confirm whether your system qualifies. We can walk you through the court documentation and answer any questions about the process.
You can also learn more about the claims process or review our frequently asked questions. The settlement is real. The deadline is fixed. And now you know why you hadn’t heard about it.
