GOP lets ‘forever chemical’ water standards go into effect
But state lawmakers warn further review could halt them
MADISON - Republicans will allow standards for “forever chemicals” to take effect in Wisconsin after years of heated debate over the topic.
According to Mike Mikalson, chief of staff for Sen. Steve Nass, legislators will not object to the standards suggested by the Natural Resources Board earlier this year, and they will be sent to the state Department of Natural Resources for implementation. Nass is one of the two co-chairs of the Joint Committee for the Review of Administrative Rules, which had jurisdiction over the rules.
The rules will now go before DNR Secretary Preston Cole for final approval, before they can be submitted to the Wisconsin Administrative Register, said Sarah Hoye, the communications director for the agency. The rules will go into effect exactly one month after they’re submitted to the register.
The rules will set the action standard for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water at 70 parts per trillion, the same number as the federal government’s guidance issued in 2016. PFOA and PFOS are two of the most well-researched compounds in the PFAS family.
For surface water, standards will set an action limit for PFOS at 8 parts per trillion for all waters except those that cannot naturally support fish and do not have downstream waters that support fish. For PFOA, the preventive action limit would be 20 parts per trillion for waters classified as public water supplies, and 95 parts per trillion for other surface waters.
Local governments and other entities impacted by the new rules will have a certain amount of time to come into
compliance, but the move was celebrated Monday by environmental groups, who said this was the first bit of meaningful progress for Wisconsin when it comes to PFAS.
“These standards are an important step down the long road we must all walk together to fix this mess,” said Scott Laeser, Water Program Director for Clean Wisconsin.
“Widespread testing for PFAS is overdue, and Wisconsin has a historic opportunity to use tens of millions of federal dollars to help communities deal with these harmful forever chemicals. Because of these standards, we will finally get a better picture of how extensive the PFAS contamination problem is in our state.”
Though lawmakers are allowing the rules to move forward, they could still object to how the DNR handles implementation of them.
“Once in effect the new rules could be suspended (in part or whole) by JCRAR if any issues develop regarding DNR implementation or enforcement that fails to comply with state law,” Mikalson said in an email Monday.
A DNR spokesperson did not immediately reply to a request for more information about what implementation will look like.
PFAS — or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — are a family of manmade chemicals used for their waterand stain-resistant qualities in products like clothing and carpet, nonstick cookware, packaging and firefighting foam. The family includes 5,000 compounds, which are persistent, remaining both in the environment and human body over time.
The chemicals have been linked to types of kidney and testicular cancers, lower birth weights, harm to immune and reproductive systems, altered hormone regulation and altered thyroid hormones. The chemicals enter the human body largely through drinking water.
The DNR has been working to create the standards, reading research and conducting sampling since 2019. Originally, the agency recommended the drinking water limit be set at 20 parts per trillion to protect the most vulnerable populations, such as infants and pregnant mothers. Pushback on those limits ensued, causing the Natural Resources Board to change them despite the input from scientists at the department.
DNR experts also recommended standards for PFAS in groundwater that were rejected by the Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the DNR, in late February. The time set forth for creating an administrative rule expired shortly after, meaning that the DNR will be forced to start the three-year process over again if they want to set standards for groundwater in the state.
Nearly 1 million Wisconsinites rely on groundwater as the source of water in their home, something environmental groups are still concerned about.