Analies Dyjak, M.A. | Head of Policy and Perspectives   

The Environmental Protection Agency announced on Monday, October 18, that the agency will prioritize a comprehensive national strategy to confront PFAS pollution. The Biden-Harris administration campaigned on setting limits in tap water for PFAS and ensuring other actionable protection measures for public health. The PFAS “roadmap”  also includes a summary of recent proposals and recommendations from EPA and Congress. 

What Does EPA's PFAS Roadmap Contain?

• Timeline for nationwide enforceable drinking water limits for PFAS in tap water under the Safe Drinking Water Act. 

• Designating PFAS as a “hazardous substance” under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund. This designation will help hold polluters financially responsible for contaminating source water.

• A timeline for Effluent Guideline Limitations for nine different industrial categories. 

• An assessment of shortcomings of the Toxic Substances Control Act and its ability to protect public health.

• An increase in monitoring, data collection, and research.

• A final toxicity assessment for GenX.

• Technical foundation for PFAS air emissions under the Clean Air Act. 

Too Little Too Late?

Hydroviv has been covering PFAS in drinking water since our company began in 2016. Since then, virtually no action has been taken by the EPA or Congress regarding this category of chemicals that is known to cause cancer. The press release for this latest roadmap even stated that the EPA has known about the toxic nature of PFAS chemicals for over 20 years. The impacts of PFAS have now extended across multiple generations, when in all likelihood, this could have been avoided. 

States are responding to the nationwide PFAS crisis by implementing testing or removal requirements in municipal tap water. Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) have been detected in an increasingly alarming number of municipalities across the United States. Recent studies indicate that 200 million Americans drink tap water contaminated with PFAS chemicals. On April 10, 2024, the US EPA has announced drinking water standards to limit exposure to 5 types of PFAS chemicals.