EPA sets tougher limits on cancer-causing chemicals in drinking water

Apr. 10—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued the first-ever enforceable drinking-water limits on five of the toxic chemical compounds known as PFAS that are contaminating water sources throughout New Mexico and the country.

PFAS — short for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are known as "forever chemicals" because they take thousands of years to decompose and last indefinitely in the bloodstream. They have created high-profile environmental concerns in towns in Eastern and Southern New Mexico and, most recently, in areas just south of Santa Fe.

The EPA's new rule will place stringent limits on five of the more potent chemical compounds that have been linked to reproductive ailments, elevated cholesterol, certain types of cancer and other health problems.

Federal officials estimate the rule will reduce PFAS exposure to 100 million people nationally.

"Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement after the agency announced the rule.

The agency previously had advisory levels for PFAS tainting water sources. Utilities now must ensure PFAS in the drinking water they treat doesn't exceed the prescribed limits.

The rule calls for PFOA and PFOS to be limited to 4 parts per trillion, the lowest level they can be reliably measured.

The compounds GenX, PFNA and PFHxS can be no more than 10 parts per trillion and will be subject to a hazard index the EPA uses to assess cumulative risks.

The rule is the latest effort by state and federal regulators to address a pollutant that increasingly is turning up in public drinking water and wells as more testing and research are done.

PFAS-laced firefighting foam that for decades was used on U.S. military bases has contaminated groundwater in Santa Fe County, Clovis and Alamogordo, near Holloman Air Force Base. And a U.S. Geological Survey report released Wednesday says varying amounts of PFAS were found in waters throughout New Mexico in 2021 and 2022.

Aside from the foam, PFAS can be found in items such as nonstick cookware, carpeting, rain gear and fast-food packages — increasing the likelihood of people being exposed to the chemicals. PFAS has been detected in the blood of virtually every American who has been tested, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Widespread PFAS exposure is why purging the chemicals from drinking water is crucial, environmental advocates said upon hearing the rule was finalized. They praised the EPA for following through on creating regulations that can be enforced.

"Up till now, these chemicals have essentially been unregulated," Rob Bilott, a well-known environmental attorney, told reporters at an online news conference Wednesday. "Most of what's been done till now has been done through the courts. That's a hard, long battle."

Scott Faber of the Environmental Working Group, which hosted the webcast, said tackling PFAS will be a multifaceted effort — banning it from household products, cleaning up the pollution, managing PFAS-tainted waste at dumpsites.

But reducing it in drinking water, he added, is the best place to start.

"Requiring water utilities to sell us safe water, as [President] Joe Biden did today, is the single most important step, the most effective way that we can reduce the amount that's building up in all of our blood," Faber said.

But many utilities object to the rule and some plan to challenge it, arguing the treatment systems are expensive to install and customers will pay more for water, The Associated Press reported.

A Santa Fe city utility official couldn't be reached to comment on whether the water treatment plant would require upgrades to meet the EPA standards. Santa Fe County officials required more time to provide information.

Late last year, PFAS was detected in a handful of residential wells in the La Cienega and La Cieneguilla communities south of Santa Fe, with the likely source being a nearby National Guard facility where the same pollutants were found in February 2023.

At the time, city and county water managers said no PFAS was detected in their systems.

In an email, a state Environment Department spokesman wrote the agency will work to ensure treatment plants comply with the federal PFAS limits.

"In the short term we are going to focus on funding drinking water facilities," agency spokesman Jorge Estrada wrote. "Long term we will assure compliance with PFAS drinking water standards."

Bilott, who's best known for battling DuPont over dumping PFAS waste in rural West Virginia, said the EPA rule should pave the way for more regulation of the forever chemicals.

PFAS is a health hazard that has come to light in recent year, but it's been accumulating in the environment and in people's bodies for a long time, so remediating it will be a gargantuan task, he said.

Manufacturers must be compelled to quit putting it into product and adding to the pollution, he said, calling that a "huge fight."

"To actually start controlling how much goes out in the world," Bilott said. "But then, the big issue becomes how do we deal with what's already out there — what's in the groundwater, what's in the soil, what's in people. How do we get rid of that?"