EPA Sets Drinking Water Standards for PFAS
The Biden administration set the first national standards to limit “forever chemicals” that pollute half of the drinking water supplies in the United States.
The EPA has set national drinking water standards for PFAS.
PFAS, also called "forever chemicals," are associated with cancer and other health conditions when ingested over time in even extremely low doses—at levels of parts per trillion. They don't break down readily in the environment. Once PFAS pollution is released, it’s basically there forever or until removed.
PFOA and PFOS will be regulated at the lowest level they can be reliably detected, 4 parts per trillion. PFOA was the subject chemical described in film Dark Waters. PFOS is one of the most prevalent PFAS used to date.
PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and GenX chemicals will be regulated through a “hazard index calculation,” a clever method that evaluates the combined potential risk when one or more of the chemicals is present.
Like tobacco and fossil fuel companies before them, the manufacturers of PFAS (3M, DuPont, Chemours, and others) knew of the dangers decades before government regulators. They covered up the risks, harming people so they could increase their profits before their deceit was revealed.
On the timescale of federal pollutant action, which often takes decades, the response to PFAS was fairly quick once the health risks were publicly known. Indeed, this is the first time since the Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments were passed in 1996 that a set of contaminants were moved through the entire regulatory process to the point of rules being set.
Many states have set regulations for these PFAS chemicals or others, but it amounted to a patchwork of overlapping but different rules across the country. Having federal standards has enormous benefits:
First, it creates a fair, predictable regulatory environment for businesses, public works, and government officials. It streamlines the requirements for compliance and reduces uncertainty.
Second, it forces states that have been unwilling to take action to actually protect their residents. Conservative states in the South and Mountain West are the big offenders here. Many have been aggressively avoiding PFAS monitoring to protect industrial and commercial users of PFAS.
Third, it puts pressure on other entities within the federal government to comply with federal standards. The Department of Defense has either delayed or refused to conduct adequate cleanup activities near military bases that are highly contaminated with PFAS, hiding behind the excuse that there was no federal standard, even in states that had existing regulations. Now that there are federal standards, the DoD will have to take responsibility.
The success is a testament to the work of scientists and environmental advocates across the country, and their efforts will continue. Cities around the country, even in places that have actively resisted testing their water supplies for fear of what they might find, will be forced to take action. Countless new contaminated sites will be revealed. And many people already exposed to PFAS are participating in studies to better understand the long-term health effects.