A plastics company in upstate New York agreed to pay $23.5 million to settle a class-action lawsuit claiming it knowingly polluted well water with a toxic chemical.

The Times Union reports the proposed settlement, agreed to by Taconic Plastics, would benefit hundreds of residents in Rensselaer County whose drinking water was contaminated with a manufacturing chemical.

The settlement would establish funds to pay Petersburgh property owners and to set up a 15-year medical monitoring program for individuals who had a certain level of perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, detected in their blood.

Exposure to PFOA has been linked to cancer and other illness.

Taconic’s president issued a statement Friday saying he was pleased the case had been settled.

(AP)