EPA will weaken rule curbing ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it plans to rescind and reconsider limits on four “forever chemicals” under a landmark drinking water standard implemented last year by President Joe Biden.

The drinking water rules were adopted as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to limit public exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), hazardous chemicals linked to a range of serious illnesses. The original rule covered six common PFAS contaminants, including PFOA, a known human carcinogen, and PFOS, a likely carcinogen.

The EPA estimates that more than 158 million Americans are exposed to PFAS through their drinking water.

The agency plans to maintain current rules for PFOA and PFOS, though it will extend the deadline for compliance from 2029 to 2031.

In its announcement, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the changes will “protect Americans from PFOA and PFOS in their drinking water” while providing “common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance.”

The EPA chief added that the agency will kick off a lengthy process for revising the PFAS limits. “But that doesn’t mean that it gets weaker,” he said. “The number might end up going lower, not higher.”

The agency’s action follows the release by the White House in March of a 36-page “National Strategy to End the Use of Paper Straws” that detailed the dangers of PFAS, which some paper straws contain. It said the chemicals are “harmful to human health, and they have been linked to harms affecting reproductive health, developmental delays in children, cancer, hormone imbalance, obesity, and other dangerous health conditions.”

PFAS are a large class of persistent chemicals that repel grease, water, oil and heat, and are used to make a wide array of consumer and industrial products. Scientists have found these chemicals in the blood of almost every American and have detected the compounds in remote regions of the planet, such as Antarctica.

The regulations adopted last year gave the 66,000 public water systems in the United States until 2029 to comply with the new standards. Under the rule, the maximum contamination level for PFOA and PFOS was set at 4 parts per trillion. Three other compounds — PFHxS, PFNA and GenX — were limited to 10 parts per trillion. In addition, the water standard required utilities to use a “hazard index” to monitor for a mixture of the chemicals, as well as a fourth, PFBS.

Under the agency’s new plan, the regulations covering PFHxS, PFNA, GenX and PFBS will be rescinded and reconsidered. The agency plans to begin a new rulemaking process in the fall and to issue a new rule next spring. The agency also said it plans to start a program called PFAS OUT to “share resources, tools, funding, and technical assistance to help utilities meet the federal drinking water standards.” (Source: The Washington Post)