EPA dropping drinking water limits on four toxic PFAS
The article notes that data from the Environmental Working Group on the nine community water systems in Charlestown shows that each one contains "forever chemicals" called PFAS. Recent research connects PFAS exposure to a variety of health problems, including cancer. PFAS contamination often sourced from plastics, is just about everywhere.
In the article, I noted that if you live near or draw water from the same source as the nine listed community water systems, chances are your well water has similar contaminants.
Under the Biden Administration, the EPA was about to issue tightened exposure rules. Under Trump, they're not, endangering lives and public health.
If you are concerned about your well water, I suggest you contact Charlestown's top water quality official Matt Dowling in Town Hall (401) 364-5030) or check out the town's excellent wastewater web page. It's loaded with links and information about water quality that can help you make informed decisions. CLICK HERE.
- Will Collette
US regulators said they will do away with limits
on certain types of toxic chemicals in US drinking water, a move that critics
warn could expose millions of Americans to dangerous contaminants.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said it intends
to rescind limits set under President Biden in April 2024 on four types of harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) chemical widely
found in drinking water – perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexane
sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) and GenX.
The EPA will keep the limits of 4 parts per trillion (ppt)
in drinking water for two other types of PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), the agency said in a statement.
But, in another move drawing criticism from health
advocates, the agency said it will delay the deadline for drinking water
systems to comply from 2029 to 2031.
“This is a public health betrayal, plain and simple,” said
Melanie Benesh, vice president for government affairs at the nonprofit the
Environmental Working Group. “Science is clear: PFAS are dangerous even in tiny
amounts. The agency must protect all Americans, not just from two chemicals,
but from the entire class of harmful PFAS.”
The four PFAS chemicals the EPA plans to roll back regulations for “are the ones currently in use because industry developed them to replace PFOA and PFOS, so they are the chemicals most likely to increase contamination in the future,” Betsy Southerland, a former EPA senior scientist and a former director in the agency’s Office of Water, said in a statement.
PFAS are types of chemicals that have long been used in a
wide variety of products and industrial processes, but many have been linked to
health problems that include certain cancers and immune system and reproductive
harms.
Countries around the world have been pushing companies to
eliminate use of PFAS known to be particularly dangerous, such as PFOS and
PFOA, but the chemicals remain difficult to eradicate. A recent study found residents of a Michigan community
polluted with PFAS from a paper mill continue to have high levels of the
chemicals in their blood, even though the mill closed down 25 years ago.
In Wednesday’s announcement, the EPA said it intends to
provide “regulatory flexibility,” and establish a new federal exemption
framework around PFAS. The agency said it will still work to hold “polluters”
accountable, but the moves to lift limits on certain PFAS will help reduce the
burden on water utilities that must clean up contaminated water that comes into
their systems.
“We are on a path to uphold the agency’s nationwide
standards to protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their water,” EPA
Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement. “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.”
The EPA also said it would defend the PFAS drinking water
regulation from ongoing legal challenges from industry groups and
utilities “with respect to PFOA and PFOS.”
Public water utilities applauded the EPA action.
“EPA has done the right thing for rural and small
communities by delaying implementation of the PFAS rule,” Matthew Holmes, CEO
of the National Rural Water Association, said in a statement. “This commonsense
decision provides the additional time that water system managers need to
identify affordable treatment technologies and make sure they are on a
sustainable path to compliance.”
States and water systems have been struggling to prepare to
meet the 2029 compliance date set under Biden, said Alan Roberson, executive
director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators. The EPA
plan to push the date back two years will help more systems comply with the
rule, Roberson said.
In another PFAS-related regulatory move, the EPA announced May 12 that it intends to grant a nearly
year-long delay to PFAS manufactures and importers to achieve compliance with
reporting requirements under the Toxic Substances Control Act. While companies
were supposed to start complying with the requirements this July, the new rule
would push that to next April.
The EPA’s announcement also comes after PFAS maker 3M on May
13 agreed to pay up to $450 million over 25 years to settle claims that
it contaminated drinking water in New Jersey.
Concerns about the fate of rules to limit PFAS in drinking
water have led some states to move to cement protections, with California in February
introducing a bill to adopt regulations at least as protective as those in the
federal rule.
“After decades of delay, communities across the nation who
were poisoned by PFAS polluters believed that help was finally coming,” said
actor and environmental activist Mark Ruffalo in a statement. “Today’s
announcement is a bitter reminder that President Trump and his team are
always going to put the polluters first. Now, it will be up to state leaders
across the nation to make sure people are protected from these toxic chemicals
in their tap water.”
