Published July 23, 2026
In June 2023, 3M agreed to a class-action settlement resolving claims brought by US public water systems over PFAS ("forever chemical") contamination, much of it tied to AFFF firefighting foam. Under the agreement, 3M committed to a present value of up to $10.3 billion in payments over 13 years, with total payments potentially reaching $10.5 to $12.5 billion, to fund PFAS treatment and testing for water utilities across the country. On March 29, 2024, the federal court overseeing the AFFF multidistrict litigation in South Carolina granted final approval to the settlement, clearing the way for payments to begin later that year.
A related settlement followed a similar path: DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva agreed to their own $1.185 billion fund to resolve public water system PFAS claims, which received final court approval in February 2024. Together, the two settlements represent some of the largest environmental contamination resolutions in US history and reflect the scale of PFAS contamination tied to decades of AFFF use at military bases, airports, and industrial sites.
It's important to understand what these settlements do and don't do. They compensate public water utilities for testing and treating PFAS-contaminated water supplies — not individuals who say AFFF exposure caused them to develop cancer or another illness. Personal-injury claims brought by firefighters, military servicemembers, and industrial workers proceed on an entirely separate track within the same overall MDL, and as of 2026, that personal-injury track still hasn't reached a global settlement or a single bellwether verdict.
Even though the water-utility settlements were finalized more than two years ago, they remain relevant background for anyone evaluating a personal AFFF injury claim: they establish, in a court-approved record, that PFAS contamination from AFFF was widespread and serious enough to justify billions of dollars in utility compensation. If you were regularly exposed to AFFF firefighting foam and later diagnosed with cancer or another qualifying condition, that's a separate claim worth evaluating. See Atumio's AFFF Firefighting Foam Lawsuit page or start a free case review.