The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will start to limit chemicals called PFAS — or “forever chemicals” — in drinking water.
This is the first time the EPA has implemented such a regulation, according to CBS News. The announcement was made Wednesday.
The perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in question are known as “forever chemicals” because they can last forever by taking thousands of years to break down. They are found in air, water and soil, per the outlet.
“There’s no doubt that these chemicals have been important for certain industries and consumer uses, but there’s also no doubt that many of these chemicals can be harmful to our health and our environment,” said EPA administrator Michael Regan in a call with reporters.
According to NPR, these are man-made chemicals used for such things as to make clothing, makeup and furniture to firefighting foam and semiconductors waterproof. They have been around since the 1940s.
“They can be found in everything from nonstick cookware to cleaning and personal care products,” said Regan in a press briefing. “But there’s no doubt that many of these chemicals can be harmful to our health and our environment.”
The EPA has said that no amount of exposure to these chemicals is safe, but these regulations will safe lives by requiring public water utilities to test for six different types of PFAS chemicals, per CBS News.
“The new standards will reduce PFAS exposure for 100 million people, according to the EPA, and prevent thousands of deaths and illnesses,” the outlet reported.
Anna Reade, lead scientist on PFAS for the Natural Resources Defense Council, spoke about the chemicals’ longevity, saying they are still around dating back to the 1940s.
They “are still in our environment today,” said Reade. “The levels of these chemicals keep building up in our water and our food and our air.”
Exposure to these chemicals have had adverse effects on people’s health, per NPR.
“Long-term exposure to certain types of PFAS have been linked to serious illnesses, including cancer, liver damage and high cholesterol,” Regan said.
“The EPA also noted PFAS exposure has been linked to immune and developmental damage to infants and children,” NPR reported.
“I think the strongest data is for kidney cancer and then testicular cancer,” Dr. Linda Birnbaum, former director of the National Institute of Environmental Sciences, told CBS News. “But evidence is growing for several other forms of cancer.”
The EPA is releasing $1 billion to states and territories to help them implement PFAS testing and treatment at public water systems, CBS reported.
That $1 billion comes from a $9 billion investment that’s part of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which was developed to help communities affected by these chemicals.
“President Biden believes that everyone deserves access to clean, safe drinking water, and he is delivering on that promise,” said Brenda Mallory, chairwoman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, in a statement.
Although this is the first initiative, not everyone is happy with the EPA’s move, saying the regulations do not do enough by regulating just six of the more than 15,000 PFAS chemicals, per CBS.
“I think that we need to begin addressing PFAS as a whole class of chemicals,” Birnbaum said. “And we need to ask the question, do we really need them?”
According to the EPA, about 66,000 public water utility systems are affected. Of that, 6% to 10% may need to act to be in compliance.
The timeline includes three years to test for the pollution and two years to “identify, purchase and install necessary technology to treat contaminated water.”
Erik D. Olson, senior strategic director of health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, told CBS News that the EPA estimates it will cost about $1.5 billion “to treat all this water and to protect people’s health. The benefits, in our view, far outweigh those costs.”
