New Limits and Additional $1B Investment to Protect 100 Million Americans
In a landmark announcement by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Biden-Harris Administration issued the first-ever national, legally enforceable drinking water standard, a strong move to protect communities from exposure to harmful per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as ‘forever chemicals.’
Exposure to PFAS has been linked to various health issues, including deadly cancers, damage to the liver and heart, as well as immune and developmental issues in infants and children. This final rule represents a major step forward in protecting public health under the EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap. It will reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million Americans, which is estimated to prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses.
“Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan, in an official press release. “That is why President Biden has made tackling PFAS a top priority, investing historic resources to address these harmful chemicals and protect communities nationwide. Our PFAS Strategic Roadmap marshals the full breadth of EPA’s authority and resources to protect people from these harmful forever chemicals. Today, I am proud to finalize this critical piece of our Roadmap, and in doing so, save thousands of lives and help ensure our children grow up healthier.”
The EPA says that this final rule will protect public health by establishing legally enforceable levels for several PFAS known to occur individually and as mixtures in drinking water. This rule sets limits for five individual PFAS: PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA (also known as “GenX Chemicals”). The rule also sets a limit for mixtures of any two or more of four PFAS: PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and “GenX chemicals.”
“It’s a highly complicated, very serious and massively extensive issue,” said Dr. Charlie Rolsky, executive director of the Shaw Institute, in Blue Hill, Maine. “We’re just scratching the surface on understanding how widespread and harmful PFAS chemicals are to human and environmental health, but we’re learning more every day. These new standards are a step in the right direction and the funding available will certainly help research institutes like ours to continue shedding light on the full ramifications.”
Through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the EPA is also making funding available to help ensure that all people have clean and safe water. In addition to today’s final rule, nearly $1 billion in newly available funding will be available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help states and territories implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems and to help owners of private wells address contamination. This is part of a $9 billion investment through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to help communities with drinking water impacted by PFAS and other emerging contaminants – the largest-ever investment in tackling PFAS pollution. An additional $12 billion is available through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for general drinking water improvements, including addressing emerging contaminants like PFAS.
The new levels are 4 parts per trillion for the more studied compounds, perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS. 10 parts per trillion are the threshold for hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid, or HFPO-DA, commonly referred to as GenX; perfluorononanoic, or PFNA; and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid, or PFHxS.
The EPA rule requires public water systems to monitor for six PFAS chemicals, giving them three years to complete the initial monitoring by 2027. Water systems also must provide the public with information on those levels starting in 2027 and they have until 2029 to implement solutions to reduce PFAS levels if they exceed the federal standards.
The EPA notes that it is issuing this rule after reviewing extensive research and science on how PFAS affects public health, while engaging with the water sector and with state regulators to ensure effective implementation. It has also considered 120,000 comments on the proposed rule from a wide variety of stakeholders.
HOW TO BE INFORMED ON THIS
In the coming weeks, EPA will host a series of webinars to provide information to the public, communities, and water utilities about the final PFAS drinking water regulation. To learn more about the webinars, please visit EPA’s PFAS drinking water regulation webpage. EPA has also published a toolkit of communications resources to help drinking water systems and community leaders educate the public about PFAS, where they come from, their health risks, how to reduce exposure, and about this rule.
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