MARS — Borough council is considering filing a claim for the DuPont class action settlement regarding “forever chemicals” in public water systems.

“Mars is a potential claimant for being included in the settlement,” solicitor Christopher Reese said, “and would potentially get money down the road from that settlement.”

According to Reese, the public works department has identified traces of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in the municipal water system — a group of synthetic compounds that break down slowly and have been linked to cancer.

“My recommendation would be that we go through the process of filing that claim,” Reese said.

In early June, DuPont de Nemours Inc. and two other technology companies agreed to pay close to $1.2 billion to resolve all claims related to PFAS-related drinking water.

Reese said the next hearing will be Dec. 14, presenting the potential settlement to the judge.

“There’s no indication that the judge would actually grant approval on that date,” he said, adding the filing would have to be done within 60 days from that date.

The timeline for a potential settlement was “hard to tell,” according to Reese, with a resolution anticipated anywhere from the end of the year to two years.

“Right now, the settlement hasn’t been accepted,” he said. “I’m assuming both sides are thinking that this is worth doing, or we wouldn’t be this far along.”

Mars Borough Council president Mike Fleming said council would postpone filing the claim until it discussed it with public works foreman Andrew Schultheis.

“We’ll table the motion today, and alert Andy that we want to get a briefing from him at his next work session,” Fleming said.