'Huge—and Long Overdue—Victory'
The EPA estimates its new standards for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which can take thousands of years to break down, would reduce exposure for around 100 million people and prevent thousands of deaths.
Utility groups
are expected to
challenge the finalized limits in court, claiming they would be too burdensome
to implement.
The new rule would require water utilities to monitor
and, if necessary, reduce the levels of two forms of PFAS—known as PFOS and PFOA—to keep them in
line with or below a maximum contaminant level of 4 parts per trillion. The
agency set the maximum contaminant level for PFNA, PFHxS, and other compounds known
as "GenX chemicals" at 10 parts per trillion.
The EPA's limits are not as bold as those recommended by scientists and green groups, including the Environmental Working Group (EWG), which nevertheless praised the finalized standards as essential progress. EWG has endorsed a 1 part per trillion PFAS limit for drinking water.
"More than 200 million Americans could
have PFAS in their tap water and for decades Americans have been exposed to
toxic 'forever chemicals' with no oversight from their government," EWG
president Ken Cook said Wednesday. "That's because for generations, PFAS
chemicals slid off of every federal environmental law like a fried egg off a
Teflon pan—until Joe Biden came along."
"Today's announcement of robust, health-protective
legal limits on PFAS in tap water will finally give tens of millions of
Americans the protection they should have had decades ago," Cook said.
"It is the most consequential decision to regulate drinking water in 30
years."
Recent research has shed light on how ubiquitous PFAS
have become: They've been detected, often in alarmingly high amounts, in groundwater, soil, food, and common
household products such as toilet paper and dental floss.
In the face of such evidence, the EPA has been accused of
dragging its feet on imposing strict limits on PFAS, underestimating their levels in
U.S. drinking water, and withholding key data about the
compounds, which at least 11 states have
moved to regulate in the absence of federal action.
Rob Bilott, an attorney who has worked for decades to
uncover how DuPont and other companies exposed U.S. communities to toxic
contaminants, said Wednesday that "it has taken far too long to get to
this point, but the scientific facts and truth about the health threat posed by
these man-made poisons have finally prevailed over the decades of corporate
cover-ups and misinformation campaigns designed to mislead the public and to
delay action to protect public health."
"Today we celebrate a huge—and long overdue—victory
for public health in this country," said Bilott. "The EPA is finally
moving forward to protect drinking water across the United States by adopting
federally enforceable limits on some of the most toxic, persistent, and
bioaccumulative chemicals ever found in our nation's drinking water
supply."