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EPA dropping drinking water limits on four toxic PFAS
US regulators said Wednesday 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.”
