On Wednesday, the U.S. government made the first constitutional ban on the release of toxic “forever compounds” in drinking water. This is a long-awaited move in a fight against the man-made substances that have been linked to cancers and have been found in the water resources of hundreds of locations, including some in Georgia.
Liquid systems around the country may need to make sure that some of the chemicals in the drinking water they provide are close to zero as the new standards are introduced. Additionally, removing enough of the frequent toxins to get there could result in expensive upgrades to numerous water systems, with the overall cost anticipated to be in the billions of dollars.
The Environmental Protection Agency ( EPA ) made the final regulations on forever chemicals known as PFAS, the abbreviation for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.
DuPont and other businesses that were spun out of the substance large, along with 3M, have agreed to pay billion to settle disputes brought by local governments over pollution, but those funds are a metaphorical drop in the bucket when it comes to the probable cost of removing the toxins.
The organization announced on Wednesday that it is also providing funding for private well owners and public water systems with an additional$ 1 billion from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for PFAS. The largest federal investment in addressing the contaminants ever, the$ 9 billion package contained in the legislation to clean up PFAS, is a part of the funding.
In a statement, EPA Administrator Michael Regan said addressing PFAS pollution is a top priority of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Communities across this nation have been plagued by drinking water that is PFAS-contaminated, according to Regan in a statement. ” Today, I am proud to finalize this critical piece of our ( PFAS Strategic ) Roadmap, and in doing so, save thousands of lives and help ensure our children grow up healthier”.
There are no federal production restrictions on PFAS, which have been used for decades in a variety of consumer and industrial products, including nonstick pans and firefighting foam. Georgia has not recently implemented its own restrictions on adding PFAS to certain products, but a few states have recently passed their own. Earlier this year, the , FDA announced , PFAS was no longer being sold by manufacturers for food packaging, part of a “voluntary market phase- out”.
A growing body of research has demonstrated that exposure to even minuscule PFAS levels contribute to a number of serious health conditions, including developmental delays and children’s depressed vaccine responses, as well as fertility issues and increased risk of prostate, kidney, and testicular cancer in adults. The new regulations, according to the EPA, will reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people while preventing thousands of deaths and serious illness deaths.
Some PFAS producers have stopped producing certain types of the chemicals, some of which are protected by the new drinking water standards. The notoriously persistent chemicals can still be present in dangerous levels in water and soil decades after they have been phased out and do n’t break down in nature. Public health advocates claim that some of the more recent compounds that have been developed as alternatives to them have comparable risks.
The regulations apply to only six of the , estimated 15, 000 PFAS in existence. They include perfluorooctane sulfonic acid ( PFOS ) and perfluorooctanoic acid ( PFOA ), two of the most- studied “forever chemicals”, as well as” GenX Chemicals”, which were developed as a replacement. Other chemicals, perfluorononanoic acid ( PFNA ), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid ( PFHxS), and perfluorobutane sulfonate ( PFBS ) are also covered by the rules.
Public water systems will have three years to conduct chemical testing and must develop solutions to lower levels of finished drinking water within five years.
In Georgia, testing is already underway as part of the EPA requirements. At least a dozen state water systems may need upgrades to meet the new standards, according to results released to the EPA and in earlier testing conducted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division. Those include Clayton County, Augusta, Columbus and several cities in Northwest Georgia, where PFAS chemicals were used for years by flooring manufacturers.
Rome, one of the largest PFAS producers, settled for roughly$ 279 million in damages from contamination in its water with plans to construct advanced water treatment facilities.
Numerous environmental organizations praised the new rules.
The announcement of strict, health-protecting legal PFAS in tap water today will finally provide tens of millions of Americans with the protection they should have had decades ago, according to Ken Cook, the president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.
Pam Burnett, executive director of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals, said she was n’t surprised by the new regulations. She said members were adamant that the costs of compliance should be the responsibility of the industries that produce the contaminants, despite her organization’s decision not to support or oppose the EPA rule.
” Even though the utilities have n’t generated this hazardous waste, they’re having to deal with it”, Burnett said. When the waste has been produced by these companies that knew what they were doing and gained from it, please do n’t put the cost on the back of the water systems and the public.
Burnett claimed that water systems have options for removing the chemicals, but upgrades are expensive and that many systems are unsure of how to dispose of the PFAS waste since it ca n’t be disposed of in the usual ways.
The Georgia Environmental Protection Division ( EPD ) was slated to be in charge of implementing the new standards, according to a spokesperson for the agency in an email statement. They pointed to an interactive map with , test results on the EPD’s website.
The American Chemistry Council, which represents some companies that manufacture and use PFAS, criticized the RPA’s “overly conservative approach” in a statement.
The group said,” We firmly support the development of a science-based drinking water standard, but this hurried, unscientific approach is unacceptable when it comes to a matter as crucial as having safe drinking water.”
New drinking water regulations for PFAS
Here are the new limits for some “forever chemicals” found in drinking water that the EPA announced on Wednesday.
•PFOS and PFOA: Concentrations limited to 4.0 parts per trillion. That’s around the lowest level that testing can detect.
•PFNA, PFHxS, and” GenX Chemicals”: Concentrations limited to 10 parts per trillion.
•The new rules also set limits on concentrations of any combination of PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and” GenX Chemicals” in drinking water.
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