New federal PFAS drinking water rules hailed for cleanup potential in Alabama
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today new formal standards for limiting PFAS chemicals in drinking water.
The standard of 4 parts per trillion, is much stricter than the agency’s 60 parts per trillion voluntary standard that was in place in 2016 when the West Morgan East Lawrence Water Authority advised residents not to drink its water.
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The Biden Administration said today the move was to protect the health of Americans. The Administration said the chemicals have been linked to a number of health problems including some cancers, liver and kidney problems and development issues.
PFAS chemicals, used in a number of products including non-stick surfaces, and Scotchgard, were made by 3M in Decatur for decades.
The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group hosted a conference call Wednesday addressing the new regulations. Melanie Houston of the Ohio Environmental Council said PFAS chemical contamination is a longstanding problem.
“PFAS are a family of nearly 5,000 chemicals used in many commonplace products, from food packaging to firefighting foams and often referred to as ‘forever chemicals’ for their ability to linger in the environment,” she said. “They were first introduced into consumer products in the 1940s and since that time they’ve been entering into the environment through the emissions of polluting factories and these consumer products.
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3M has faced a settled a number of PFAs-related lawsuits in North Alabama, including a $35 million settlement that allowed the West Morgan East Lawrence to build a new water treatment plant to filter out PFAS.
Tennessee Riverkeeper Founder David Whiteside sued 3M nearly a decade ago seeking cleanup of PFAS in the Tennessee River. He hailed Wednesday’s announcement.
“Tennessee Riverkeeper and I personally, we’re optimists generally, you kind of have to be in the environmental protection business,” he said. “We believe this is a great day for America.”
But Whiteside said there is still plenty of PFAS to clean up.
“There are certainly problems with this, they need to be regulating PFAS as an entire family of chemicals,” he said, “These are strong regulations, it shows the EPA is taking it seriously and it’s going to bring a lot of awareness to PFAS and to our drinking water.”
3M is also under a consent order from the Alabama Department of Environmental Management for PFAS cleanup of the Tennessee River and landfills and other properties primarily in Lawrence and Morgan counties.
ADEM issued a statement following today’s announcement, saying in part:
“ADEM welcomes the EPA’s final rule for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water as it establishes clear, enforceable health-based standards for six PFAS compounds. These new standards eliminate the uncertainty associated with the non-regulatory health advisories and give public water utilities a clear mandate for reducing the concentration of these substances in drinking water.
“Since 2020, ADEM has required drinking water systems in the state to test for the presence of PFAS in drinking water and provided assistance to systems when needed to help them remediate problems. ADEM’s 2020 interim consent order with 3M requires the company to take steps to address PFAS at its plant in Decatur as well as dump sites in north Alabama. This has resulted in significant reductions of PFAS in those areas.
“ADEM is also providing financial assistance to water systems to help them address PFAS, including making them aware of funding available through ADEM. With funding from the State Revolving Fund (SRF) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), ADEM is providing more than $127 million to assist water systems with PFAS, including systems in small or disadvantaged communities.”
3M has said it will exit the PFAS manufacturing business by the end of 2025. Last week it announced it has reached a $12.5 billion settlement with U.S. public drinking water systems.
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