The Eastern Iowa Airport will pay $1.1M to buy property with PFAS in groundwater

The Eastern Iowa Airport will pay $1.1 million to buy a residential property south of the airport contaminated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.

The Airport Commission unanimously approved resolutions Monday to buy 3400 Walford Road from Paul and Nikki Hynek. The couple who bought the parcel in 2015 — and want to continue to rent the house — agree to not hold the airport liable for PFAS on the property.

“We know the presence of PFAS on the property is well-known and it's stated in this hold harmless agreement,“ said Airport Finance Director Don Swanson when presenting the resolution to the commission.

Nikki Hynek declined to comment Monday.

Airport Director Marty Lenss said the deal fits with the airport commission’s long-term plans to buy all the property from the Cedar Rapids airport’s south fence to Walford Road. Commercial property with airport access makes more sense than residential parcels in that area south of the airport, he said.

“It's important for folks to understand this was, first and foremost, a parcel the commission is purchasing because it fits with long-term interests of the airport,” Lenss said. “The PFAS conversation was secondary to that.”

The agreements resolve about two years of negotiations with the Hyneks, who learned in 2020 water from their well had PFAS levels 3.5 times more than a lifetime limit set by the federal government that was in effect at the time.

The Hyneks’ well was among 14 wells the University of Iowa Center for Health Effects of Environmental Contamination tested in 2020 based on Director David Cwiertny’s hunch that PFAS might be found in private wells near the airport.

For decades, firefighters at The Eastern Iowa Airport — and airports across the country — were required to use firefighting foam that contains PFAS because it has unique properties for containing fuel fires.

Scientists have since learned even small amounts of PFAS may harm human growth and development and affect reproduction, thyroid function, the immune system and liver function, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.

The hold harmless agreement approved by the commission Monday acknowledges the use of firefighting foam with PFAS, but said chemicals found on the property may also have come from human waste, or biosolids, applied to farm fields surrounding the airport in 2006.

“PFAS was at one point in time detected in the Hyneks’ private well above the EPA health advisory level and MCL (maximum contaminant level) but the source of the PFAS found there has never been determined,” the document states.

The airport, which supplied bottled water to the Hyneks from 2020 to 2022, last year paid about $35,000 to have a new, deeper well drilled on the property. Tests done of the new well showed no presence of PFAS in the water, Lenss said.

The Linn County Assessor valued the 2.9-acre property at $770,000 earlier this year. This includes a 3,357-square-foot house built in 2019, an outdoor fireplace added in 2015 and a 2,520-square-foot barn built in 1914.

The commission will let the Hyneks continue to live in the house for up to three years after the Jan. 12 closing date with the couple paying $2,000 rent per month as well as paying for utilities, according to a third resolution approved Monday.

Once the Hyneks move, the property will not continue to be residential, Lenss said. It’s possible the commission might make the house available to move but not at the airport’s expense, he said.

The airport, which is owned by the city of Cedar Rapids and governed by the five-member appointed commission, does not receive property tax money.

Private wells at other houses near the Hyneks also have had confirmed PFAS, but not at as high of levels at the Hyneks, the UI reported. Ongoing concerns about the chemicals in soil and groundwater have continued to hold up the airport’s permit to extend a well field for a geothermal heating system in a new terminal expansion.

The airport in August submitted to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources a plan for determining the extent of PFAS contamination on the airport grounds and surrounding area. The plan said the airport would test 20 private wells, groundwater and soil for PFAS this fall and submit a final report to the Iowa DNR by April.

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