The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Wednesday announced the reissue of the Wisconsin Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (WPDES) permit that regulates industrial wastewater discharges from the Johnson Controls Inc. and Tyco Fire Products, to the Menominee River at One and Two Stanton Street in Marinette, Wisconsin. The effective date of the permit will be January first.

The reissued permit requires several actions by JCI/Tyco in order to minimize arsenic, mercury and specific PFAS concentrations discharged into the Menominee River.

With those actions, the DNR authorizes JCI/Tyco to discharge treated groundwater from the site, thereby preventing the accumulation of contaminated groundwater within underground containment walls and, ultimately, preventing a release of contaminated groundwater to the Menominee River without treatment

In addition, JCI/Tyco has agreed to install treatment to remove certain PFAS to acceptable levels before discharge as a part of the upgrades to the existing groundwater treatment system located at the site. The reissued permit includes limits and monitoring for PFOS that protect Michigan’s Water Quality Standard. The Wisconsin DNR is currently in the process of developing surface water standards for PFOA and PFOS, but those standards are not yet in effect.