National Strategy to Confront PFAS Announced
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today announced a Strategic Roadmap to “confront PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) contamination nationwide” as a result of work conducted by the EPA Council on PFAS.
According to the announcement, the Roadmap describes EPA plans as including:
- Finalizing the Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule this year requiring monitoring for 29 PFAS.
- Issuing final health advisories for Perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) and GenX in the Spring of 2022.
- Proposing and then finalizing enforceable drinking water limits under the Safe Drinking Water Act for Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) in the Fall of 2023.
- Finalizing a rulemaking designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA by Summer 2023.
- Issuing updated guidance for destroying and disposing of PFAS and PFAS-containing materials by December 2023 or perhaps as early as the Fall of 2023.
- Publishing final multi-laboratory validated analytical method for Clean Water Act applications in Winter 2022 and make additional updates to drinking water analytical methods for PFAS by Fall 2024.
- Issuing new guidance recommending state-issued permits that do not already include monitoring requirements for PFAS use EPA’s recently published analytical method 1633 by Winter 2022.
- Completing the risk assessment for PFOA and PFOS in biosolids by Winter 2024.
- Completing draft PFHxS, PFHxA, PFNA, and PFDA IRIS assessments for public comment and peer review (Spring – Fall 2022), while finalizing the PFBA risk assessment in Fall 2022.
AWWA supports regulating PFOA and PFOS in drinking water based on the best available science. AWWA has repeatedly called on EPA to better utilize the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and other statutes to gather data and take appropriate actions to prevent problematic PFAS compounds from entering the nation’s water supply. Importantly, EPA identifies pollution prevention as an important element of the PFAS Action Plan. The Plan includes data collection through the Toxic Release Inventory, TSCA data-gathering authority, and CWA Effluent Guidelines Program. It also describes Identifying PFAS categories to guide TSCA test orders this Fall.
With publication of the Action Plan, EPA is holding two outreach events that will be held on October 26 and November 2. Registration is required.
AWWA has a suite of resources available on its PFAS resource page, including: