EPA to limit ‘forever chemicals’ in tap water
PFAS are linked to cancer, other health problems
For the first time, the federal government is requiring municipal water systems to remove six synthetic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems that are present in the tap water of hundreds of millions of Americans.
The extraordinary move from the Environmental Protection Agency mandates that water providers reduce perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known collectively as PFAS, to near-zero levels. The compounds, found in everything from dental floss to firefighting foams to children’s toys, are called “forever chemicals” because they never fully degrade and can accumulate in the body and the environment.
The chemicals are so ubiquitous that they can be found in the blood of almost every person in the United States. A 2023 government study of private wells and public water systems detected PFAS chemicals in nearly half the tap water in the country.
Exposure to PFAS has been associated with metabolic disorders, decreased fertility in women, developmental delays in children, and increased risk of some prostate, kidney, and testicular cancers, according to the EPA.
The EPA administrator, Michael Regan, called the new regulation “life changing.”
“This action will prevent thousands of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses,” Regan said on a call with reporters Tuesday. He described the rule as the most significant action the federal government has ever taken to reduce PFAS exposure in drinking water.
“We are one huge step closer to finally shutting off the tap on forever chemicals once and for all,” he said.
The EPA estimated it would cost water utilities about $1.5 billion annually to comply with the rule, though utilities maintain that the costs could be twice that amount and are worried about how to fund it. States and local governments have successfully sued some manufacturers of PFAS for contaminating drinking water supplies, but the settlements awarded to municipalities have been dwarfed by the costs of cleaning up the chemicals, municipal officials said.
Industry executives say taxpayers will ultimately foot the bill in the form of increased water rates.
The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law provides $9 billion to help communities address PFAS contamination, and the EPA said $1 billion of that money would be set aside to help states with initial testing and treatment.
Regan formally announced the regulation Wednesday in Fayetteville, N.C., near the site where, in 2017, a Chemours chemical plant discharged water contaminated with PFAS into the Cape Fear River, making the local drinking water unsafe.
Regan, who previously served as North Carolina’s top environmental regulator, oversaw the Cape Fear PFAS investigation at the time and forced Chemours to clean up the air, soil, and water in lower Cape Fear River basin communities.
In 2022, the EPA found that the chemicals could cause harm at levels “much lower than previously understood” and that almost no level of exposure was safe.
Under the new rule from the EPA, water utilities must monitor supplies for PFAS chemicals and would be required to notify the public and reduce contamination if levels exceeded the new standard of 4 parts per trillion for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Previously, the agency had advised that drinking water contain no more than 70 parts per trillion of the chemicals.
Public water systems have three years to complete their monitoring.