EPA limits PFAS chemicals in U.S. drinking water
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
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Rogelio V. Solis/AP
EPA limits PFAS chemicals in U.S. drinking water
Rogelio V. Solis/AP
The Environmental Protection Agency announced new drinking water standards Wednesday to limit exposure to a class of chemicals called PFAS.
“There is no doubt that these chemicals have been important to certain industries and consumer uses, but there is also no doubt that many of these chemicals can be harmful to our health and our environment,” said the EPA Administrator Michael Regan during a call with reporters.
This is the first time the agency has set enforceable limits on PFAS in drinking water.
PFAS stands for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances – a large group of man-made chemicals used since the 1940s to waterproof and stain repellent products ranging from clothing, makeup and furniture to firefighting foam and semiconductors.
Manufactured by several major companies, including Dupont and 3M, PFAS have strong molecular bonds that do not break down for a long time, which is why they are known as “forever chemicals.”
PFAS from the 1940s “are still present in our environment today,” says Anna Reade, senior PFAS scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. “Levels of these chemicals continue to build up in our water, food and air.”
Evidence of their harmful effects on human health has also been accumulating. “Long-term exposure to certain types of PFAS has been linked to serious illnesses, including cancer, liver damage and high cholesterol,” said the EPA’s Regan.
The EPA also noted that exposure to PFAS has been associated with immune and developmental damage in infants and children.
That’s why the EPA finalized a rule limiting the presence of six PFAS chemicals in water – individually, or in combination with one another or both – meaning water systems are required to monitor these chemicals and remove them if they are above permitted levels. Although some states have instituted their own PFAS limits, this is the first time this has happened at the federal level.
Public water systems will have five years to resolve their PFAS issues – three years to sample their systems and establish existing PFAS levels, and an additional two years to install water treatment technologies if their levels are too high , senior government officials told reporters.
The EPA expects that excessive levels of PFAS will be detected in approximately 6 to 10 percent of water systems, affecting some 100 million people in the United States.
“It’s historic and monumental,” says Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, an advocacy group working to protect communities from PFAS contamination. “I didn’t think (the EPA) would ever do it.” Donovan lives in an area of North Carolina that has been contaminated with PFAS from the Chemours chemical manufacturing plant.
She says seeing the limits set by the EPA is “validation.” Six years ago, when her group first raised the issue of PFAS, she says they were told the water met or exceeded state and federal guidelines. “And that’s because there wasn’t one,” she said. “This has really broken the public’s trust in many people in our community.”
“The final rule is a major step forward for public health,” said Erik Olson, NRDC senior director. “We believe this will save thousands of lives by reducing the exposure of tens of millions of people to these toxic chemicals in tap water.”
There are more than 12,000 known PFAS chemicals. The six products that the EPA restricts “have been the subject of numerous studies in animals and, in many cases, in humans, so (the EPA) is confident that it has estimated the safe levels of these chemicals ” said Elizabeth Southerland, a former US EPA official. Office of Water, which left the agency in 2017.
Southerland says the new limits are a bold first step toward solving the PFAS problem. And even though the EPA focused on just six chemicals, the treatments water utilities use to remove these chemicals will also remove other chemicals of concern from drinking water.
In addition to other PFAS, “they will also remove all kinds of pesticides, pharmaceuticals and personal care products that are currently not regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, but which we know “They have serious health effects,” Southerland said.
The agency estimates it will cost water companies $1.5 billion a year to comply with the regulations — as long as PFAS continues to appear in drinking water. “The costs are not just about one-time sampling and then setting up the treatment,” says Southerland. They include continuous monitoring and maintenance of equipment, for example regular replacement of carbon filters.
The EPA says the benefits will equal or exceed the cost in terms of reductions in cancer and heart attacks, strokes, and childbirth complications in the affected population.
The announcement comes with $1 billion in grants to help water systems and private well owners with initial testing and treatment. This is part of a $9 billion funding package for PFAS removal in the bipartisan Infrastructure Act. Companies that make these chemicals also must pay more than $10 billion in a class-action lawsuit — money that will go to public water systems to remove PFAS.
If water systems can’t access these funds, or if the funds run out, some of these costs could eventually be passed on to consumers, says NRDC’s Olson.
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