EPA Delays PFAS Drinking Water Standard

On April 10th 2024 the U.S. EPA finalized the national primary drinking water standards for six types of PFAS. PFAS are called “forever chemicals” as they do not easily breakdown, and so build up in the environment and in tissues, apparently both human and animal. Human exposure to PFAS has been linked to health issues, such as kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, liver damage, developmental toxicity, ulcerative colitis, high cholesterol, and immune dysfunction. The chemicals regulated by EPA were:

• For PFOA and PFOS the U.S. EPA is setting enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) at 4.0 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS, individually.  In addition, for PFOA and PFOS, EPA is setting a non-enforceable health-based goal of zero. This is called a Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG).  This reflects the official position that the latest science shows that there is no level of exposure to these two PFAS without risk of health impacts.
• For PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA (commonly know as GenX Chemicals), EPA is setting MCLGs of 10 parts per trillion
• PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and GenX Chemicals: EPA is also proposing a regulation to limit any mixture containing one or more of PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and/or GenX Chemicals. For these PFAS, water systems would use a hazard index calculation, defined in the proposed rule, to determine if the combined levels of these PFAS pose a potential risk.

Originally, the EPA gave public water systems five years (by 2029) to implement solutions that reduce these PFAS if monitoring shows that drinking water levels exceed these MCLs.

Yesterday, the EPA Administrator, Lee Zeldin, announced the agency will keep the current National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) at 4 part per trillion as the standards for drinking water, but will delay implementation deadline to 2031. Regulation on the other four PFAS chemicals (PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and GenX Chemicals) will be developed by next spring. The agency remains committed to addressing Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water while following the law and ensuring that regulatory compliance is achievable for drinking water systems. 

PFAS dissolves in water and combined with their chemical properties means that traditional drinking water treatment technologies used at water treatment plants are not designed to remove them, it is believed though, that carbon filtration does remove some. Activated carbon adsorption, ion exchange resins, and high-pressure membranes have been found to remove PFAS from drinking water, especially PFOA and PFOS, which have been the most studied of these chemicals and the PFAS substances with the lowest promulgated drinking water limit. Testing these technologies at the new regulatory limits is underway, but even if effective it could cost millions up to a billion dollars to remove PFAS from the Occoquan Reservoir, then the problem is how to dispose of the PFAS removed from the water. This would bring a whole new liability to the water utility.

“The work to protect Americans from PFAS in drinking water started under the first Trump Administration and will continue under my leadership,” said EPA Administrator Zeldin. “We are on a path to uphold the agency’s nationwide standards to protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their water. At the same time, we will work to provide common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance. This will support water systems across the country, including small systems in rural communities, as they work to address these contaminants. EPA will also continue to use its regulatory and enforcement tools to hold polluters accountable.” 

As part of this action, EPA is announcing its intent to extend compliance deadlines for PFOA and PFOS, establish a federal exemption framework, and initiate enhanced outreach to water systems, especially in rural and small communities, through EPA’s new PFAS outreach Initiative (PFAS OUT). This action would help address the most significant compliance challenges EPA has heard from public water systems, members of Congress, and other stakeholders, while supporting actions to protect the American people from certain PFAS in drinking water.  

Paired with effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) for PFAS and other tools to ensure that polluters are held responsible, EPA’s actions are designed to reduce the burden on drinking water systems and the cost of water bills, all while continuing to protect public health and ensure that the agency is following the law in establishing impactful regulations such as these. 

EPA is also announcing its intent to rescind the regulations and reconsider the regulatory determinations for PFHxS, PFNA, GenX, and the Hazard Index mixture of these three plus PFBS to ensure that the determinations and any resulting drinking water regulation follow the legal process laid out in the Safe Drinking Water Act.