Harold Taggart of Little Hocking, West Virginia, worked at DuPont Washington Works for almost 32 years.

He is no stranger to the C-8 controversy since he says he spent years not even knowing he had the chemical in his body.

"They told me I couldn't donate any more blood because I had too much C-8 in my system. That's when I first realized I had it," says Taggart.

He says he spent years receiving frequent physicals from the company without ever being told why, so now he says he has a hard time believing anything the company claims to do, including now cutting back on the use of C-8.

"Once it's in the soil, once it's in the water, they say it never leaves. It stays there forever," says Taggart.

"DuPont has known for years the potential problems with C-8. We're glad they are going to cut their production of it. We just wish they'd done it 20 years ago," says Bob Griffin, the General Manager of the Little Hocking Water Association.

DuPont's public affairs director, Clif Webb, says DuPont has been working to reduce the emission of C-8 into the water and air since the lawsuit began and are now going to reduce the use of the chemical in their product by slowly phasing it out.

According to Webb, by 2006 C-8 will be totally replaced by a new stabilizing chemical agent, but folks in Little Hocking say until they know more about that chemical, they don't plan to drink the water anytime soon.

"This other chemical that they are going to use to replace it with, we would like to know what it is, what it's properties are, cause obviously there are pathways between DuPont and Little Hocking water," says Griffin.

But DuPont's attempt is not going completely unappreciated.

"At least they are trying to do something about it. That's the main thing," says Taggart.

Last month a Wood County circuit judge accepted a nearly $108 million settlement between DuPont and residents who say their drinking water was contaminated with the chemical.