EPA unveils first national PFAS drinking water standards

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency April 10 announced the first national drinking water standards for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a decision praised by community groups but labeled as "unscientific" by the American Chemistry Council.

EPA finalized the enforceable standards for five individual PFAS "forever chemicals," including PFOA, at between 4 and 10 parts per trillion, and sets limits on mixtures of any two of four of the chemicals in drinking water.

The agency estimated that between 6 and 10 percent of the country's 66,000 public drinking water systems, covering about 100 million people, may have to reduce PFAS levels to meet the new standards.

In a statement, ACC said it supported science-based drinking water standards but questioned the research behind the EPA standard, and said it would be working with other groups on next steps.

ACC has previously challenged EPA health advisories around some PFAS chemicals in court.

"Since this proposal was first announced, new real-world data has become available through national monitoring that confirms the rationale for this proposal is based on inaccurate and out-of-date information," ACC said.

"Failure to incorporate this data into the final rule means that the number of small water systems that will be impacted by the new standard is three times higher than EPA estimated, forcing them to divert critical resources away from other higher-priority drinking water needs."

But EPA said water systems can use several different technologies to remove PFAS, and pointed to the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority in Wilmington, N.C., one of the most heavily PFAS contaminated communities, as successfully applying the technologies.

"We learned about GenX and other PFAS in our tap water six years ago," said Emily Donovan, co-founder of Clean Cape Fear, in the EPA announcement. "I raised my children on this water and watched loved ones suffer from rare or recurrent cancers. No one should ever worry if their tap water will make them sick or give them cancer."

EPA also announced $1 billion in new funding for water utilities to test for and treat their systems for PFAS chemicals.

While the new rules apply to drinking water systems, plastics firms have been subject to legal settlements and regulations from governments over PFAS contamination from their manufacturing operations.