EPA Imposes Limit on PFAS in Drinking Water for the First Time

Key Takeaways

• The EPA and White House announced new regulations limiting the amount of PFAS that can be present in drinking water.

• Within five years, public water utilities must keep the levels of six of the most common PFAS to nearly undetectable levels, the EPA said.

• These toxic “forever chemicals” can cause cancer, heart disease, fertility issues, and more.

• Environment and health activists celebrate the move as a monumental moment in the decades-long fight to purge the toxic chemicals from people’s bodies and their environments.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday announced national limits for six major types of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water. This is the first time the EPA has imposed national standards on these “forever chemicals.”

PFAS are a class of toxic chemicals commonly used to make consumer products like clothes, cookware, and food packaging. Most Americans have PFAS in their blood, and the chemicals pollute more than 80% of U.S. waterways.

“I really thought this day would never come. Communities that have been burdened with PFAS-contaminated drinking water have waited nearly a decade for action from the EPA. We should all be able to turn our kitchen faucet on and know that our water is safe from toxic forever chemicals,” said Joanne Stanton, co-founder of Buxmont Coalition for Safer Water, a grassroots organization in Pennsylvania.

A multitude of studies have linked PFAS exposure to health issues, including certain cancers, reproductive and developmental complications, immune dysfunction, and elevated cholesterol.

“EPA’s standards will stop cancer before it starts by protecting communities from known risks associated with exposure to PFAS and other contaminants, including kidney and testicular cancers,” Danielle Carnival, PhD, Deputy Assistant to the President for the Cancer Moonshot, said in a statement.

Under the new rule, water systems will have three years to test their PFAS levels and let the public know if levels exceed the EPA limits. Within five years, they must use PFAS filtration systems or implement other solutions to reduce toxicity.

Related: This Cholesterol Drug Could Remove PFAS from Blood

The EPA Follows Through On Its Promise

In 2021, the EPA announced a road map detailing how the agency would begin to limit levels of PFAS in the environment. The agency set health advisory limits for PFAS but had no power to enforce those limits.

At the time, health and environmental advocates expressed frustration with the agency for not taking more decisive action to crack down on toxic contamination.

“It’s the EPA’s job to regulate chemicals to set safe drinking water standards and to hold polluters accountable,” said Stanton, whose son was diagnosed with cancer that was potentially linked to PFAS exposure. “Today, the EPA did their job.”

The EPA estimates that 6% to 10% of the 66,000 public drinking water systems will need to make changes to be in compliance.

Only 11 U.S. states have enforceable standards for safe drinking water.

Enforcing maximum contaminant levels at a national level means that states no longer have to restrict PFAS with a “patchwork of policies,” said Pennsylvania State Senator Carolyn Comitta.

Related: Burger King, Chick-fil-A Among Major Chains to Ban 'Forever Chemicals' in Food Packaging

What This Will Mean for Water Cleanliness

There are more than 12,000 known PFAS. The EPA set standards for six of the most common and hazardous of those chemicals, though the agency said other PFAS are likely to be reduced with new water clean-up efforts, too.

The EPA set limits for five individual PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA, also known as “GenX chemicals.” It also limits combinations of any two or more of four of those PFAS: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and GenX chemicals.

The EPA said it set the Maximum Contaminant Levels at 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS because that is the lowest level at which they can regulate contaminant levels. The threshold is set at 10 parts per trillion for PFNA, PFHxS, and GenX Chemicals.

Those amounts are so tiny that the chemicals will need to be nearly undetectable for water utilities to be in compliance.

Water utilities can choose whichever PFAS removal technology best suits them, or they can look for polluted wells and take them offline, said Melanie Benesh, JD, vice president of government affairs at the Environmental Working Group (EWG).

Related: Even Kale May Contain Toxic PFAS

Next Steps for Clean Water

The White House said it will allocate another $1 billion in funding to address PFAS in drinking water in addition to the $9 billion funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

“The spirit of the [Bipartisan Infrastructure Law] was particularly around environmental justice—$5 billion of that is specifically for small and disadvantaged communities,” said Madeleine Dean, U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania, author of the PFAS Accountability Act.

Environmental lawyer Robert Bilott, JD, was among the first people to bring national attention to PFAS toxicity. As shown in the film “Dark Waters,” Billot found evidence that major manufacturers like DuPont and 3M knew about the serious health harms of PFAS exposure for decades before the public was made aware. Water utilities have already used some of the millions of dollars his clients won in settlements to fund PFAS clean-up.

Bilott said the most effective way to tackle PFAS contamination will continue to be through the courts but that the new regulations would make it easier to do so.

“We are trying to do what we can to get compensation and recoveries,” Bilott said. “Unfortunately, that is a long legal slog, but having federal regulations like what we’re seeing today should help and give people more tools.”

Billot said that he expects to see the EPA start to control PFAS as hazardous substances and clamp down on the production of PFAS by industry. In the meantime, states can enact stricter PFAS limits on their own drinking water systems.

Neutralizing the risk of PFAS exposure will require regulations limiting or banning the chemicals from everyday products and steps to clear old PFAS contaminants from the soil and air, said Scott Faber, JD, senior vice president of government affairs at the EWG.

“But requiring water utilities to sell us safe water, as Joe Biden did today, is the most effective way to reduce the amount of PFAS that’s building up in all of our blood,” he said.

Read Next: Should You Get a Blood Test for PFAS? The CDC Says It's Worth a Chat With Your Doctor

What This Means For You

There are several commercial filters that use reverse osmosis or activated carbon that can remove most PFAS from your drinking water. Testing your water supply for toxicity can be expensive for most people. If you get your water from a public utility, you can learn about its toxicity using this database from the Environmental Working Group. If you choose to test water yourself, you can send samples to an EPA-approved laboratory.

Read the original article on Verywell Health.