EPA tightens drinking water standards
New rules regarding PFSA stricter than Michigan’s
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday issued new drinking water standards, directing public utilities to ensure the level of PFAS remains at a safe level for communities. Advocates for cleaner drinking water applauded the new rule, saying it will ensure safer health outcomes.
The rule is the first national clean drinking water standard for PFAS, per the agency. Specifically, it targets PFAS and PFOS, hard-tobreak-down contaminants that have been linked to health concerns such as thyroid disease, kidney and testicular cancers as well as higher levels of cholesterol. The contaminants have been used since the 1940s in stain- and water-repellent fabrics, nonstick products, polishes, waxes, paints, cleaning products and firefighting foams.
Since PFAS (per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances) are hard to break down, they are often referred to as "forever chemicals." Under the new rule, water providers must ensure there are less than 4 parts per trillion (ppt) of PFOA and PFOS chemicals, two of the most common types of PFAS, in drinking water samples.
For context, that's a stricter level than Michigan's clean drinking water standard, which sets a maximum contaminant level of 8 ppt for PFOA and 16 ppt for PFOS chemicals. The new rule also addresses levels for five other contaminants and sets a maximum standard for combined levels of contaminants.
During a media call Wednesday, advocates for clean drinking water standards and members of Michigan's congressional delegation applauded the EPA for setting a national baseline for clean drinking water.
"It's difficult to overstate the significance that the EPA has, for the first time, enforceable nationwide standards for PFAS contamination in our drinking water," said U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Lansing. "Now, if you find PFAS in your water, no matter where you are in the country, you have a nationwide standard based on science so you know your water is safe."
In a statement, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the new rule will protect communities from the harmful effects of the chemicals and "save thousands of lives and help ensure our children grow up healthier.”
Agency officials estimate the new rule will affect 6% to 10% of the 66,000 public drinking water systems subject to it. Public drinking water systems have three years to begin testing under the new contaminant levels, and five years to reduce contaminant levels in the water.
The EPA will provide $9 billion to address PFAS contamination, including a $1 billion grant program for initial water testing and treatment. The feds have also made available $12 billion to address general drinking water issues. The funding comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law signed in 2022, according to the agency.
However organizations representing water utilities say the EPA has underestimated the costs of implementing the new PFAS standard.
During the public comment process, several utilities opposed the new rule.
That opposition could lead to legal challenges to the EPA's new clean drinking water standards.
"EPA’s cost analysis vastly underestimates the real-world costs that this rulemaking will impose on public water systems, and ratepayers will bear those costs," officials from the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies wrote last May.
In Michigan, environmental officials have taken steps to address PFAS contamination, including implementing clean drinking water standards that were some of the toughest in the nation when they were implemented in 2020.
"It means we're actually years ahead of some of the other states who are going to now be responding to today's new standards," Slotkin said.
In 2018, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (now Department of Energy, Great Lakes and Environment) estimated there may be more than 11,000 sites in Michigan
contaminated by PFAS.
In March, a local study found residents in northern Kent County had higher PFAS levels in their blood than the national average. The abundance of chemicals there has been linked to sites where the shoe company Wolverine would dump waste from products that used PFAS for water resistance. Wolverine reached a $54 million settlement with property owners in the area last year.
In Iosco County's Oscoda, cleanup and testing efforts continue near the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base due to PFAS contamination. Firefighting foam used at the base, which closed in 1993, contained the harmful chemicals. Department of Defense records showed PFAS had been detected at levels of up to 213,000 parts per trillion at the former base, according to the Associated Press.
Members of Michigan's congressional delegation, for years, have pushed for the Department of Defense to help clean up areas near military bases where PFAS contamination is present.
The Department of Defense announced that four locations in Michigan, including Wurtsmith, would receive interim PFAS cleanup action this year.