EPA tightens PFAS drinking water rules; ACC pushes polymer safety

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency June 15 dramatically lowered the safe drinking water levels of four common fluorochemicals, saying that new science warrants tougher action to protect public health.

The EPA, in what's officially an interim health advisory, lowered its safe drinking water levels from 70 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS down to 0.004 ppt and 0.02 ppt, respectively.

The new levels are between 3,500 and 17,000 times lower than those set by President Barack Obama's EPA in 2016 for the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or "forever" chemicals as they are called for their persistence in the environment.

"People on the front-lines of PFAS contamination have suffered for far too long," said EPA Administrator Michael Regan. "That's why EPA is taking aggressive action as part of a whole-of-government approach to prevent these chemicals from entering the environment and to help protect concerned families from this pervasive challenge."

The American Chemistry Council, however, questioned some of the science behind EPA's new levels and said while they are not officially enforceable, the EPA's action will have a major impact on what governments around the country do.

"While they are nonregulatory levels, they will have sweeping implications for policies at the state and federal levels," ACC said in a statement. "Getting the science right is of critical importance."

ACC questioned whether the new standards are achievable in drinking water systems.

"These new levels cannot be achieved with existing treatment technology and, in fact, are below levels that can be reliably detected using existing EPA methods," ACC said.

Besides the lower levels for perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate, EPA also set advisory levels for two other PFAS chemicals that have largely replaced them in commerce, GenX and a compound called PFBS, at 10 ppt and 2,000 ppt, respectively.

Additionally, the agency announced a $1 billion grant program to help communities address water contamination from FPAS and other chemicals.

The Environmental Working Group praised the EPA announcement and said that 200 million Americans are drinking water that is contaminated with PFAS, which it said have been linked to cancer and reproductive health problems at very low levels.

"Today's announcement should set off alarm bells for consumers and regulators," said Melanie Benesh, EWG's legislative attorney.

EWG urged EPA to finish a formal regulatory standard for PFOA and PFOS by the end of 2023, and to tighten up on industrial emissions, which EPA called for in a November road map.

The EPA action came a day after ACC released a study it said shows that the vast majority of fluoropolymers, which are part of the PFAS family, are safe.

The new ACC study says that more than 90 percent of fluoropolymers should be considered safe to use and designated, in regulatory speak, as "polymers of low concern."

The study from ACC's Performance Fluoropolymer Partnership looked at the safety data for 14 fluoropolymers and fluoroelastomers, building on a 2018 review of 4 of the chemicals.

It said the 18 compounds together make up about 96 percent of the global market for commercially available fluoropolymers.

ACC said the study is evidence that PFAS chemicals are different enough from each other that they should not be regulated as a single chemical.

"This paper provides conclusive evidence that an overwhelming percentage of the fluoropolymers in the products we rely on every day are of low concern for human health or the environment according to internationally recognized criteria," said Jay West, PFP executive director. "It also demonstrates even further that regulating the broad family of PFAS as one single category is neither scientifically sound nor appropriate."

ACC said its study indicates the compounds meet the international definition of chemicals of low concern and have "insignificant environmental and human health impacts."

"The result is that the most economically important fluoropolymers [by global market volume] pose minimal threats to humans or the environment," PFP said in a news release.

The definition of polymers of low concern was first developed more than 15 years ago by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and its expert group on polymers, ACC said.

ACC said that the study looks only at the "in-use" phase of the chemicals and does not examine the impacts from manufacturing or end-of-life phases of the polymers.

Those phases, however, also attract attention from regulators and plastics firms have been caught up in expensive cleanup operations for leaks of fluoropolymers into the environment.

The chemicals in the ACC study include polyvinylidene fluoride homopolymer and copolymer; ethylene-chlorotrifluoroethylene copolymer and terpolymer; polychlorotrifluoroethylene and fluoroethylene-vinyl ether copolymer, as well as specialty fluoroplastics, amorphous fluropolymers and fluorinated ionomers.

The study was published in the journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.