The EPA proposed two rules on Monday to rescind Biden-era limits on four PFAS in drinking water and give qualifying water systems two more years to comply with standards for two other PFAS.
The agency also announced coming limits on the amount of the chemicals that can be released into water.
The first proposed rule addresses limits on four per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which the Environmental Protection Agency set during the Biden administration. The Trump administration says the limits were adopted through an unlawful procedure.
The second proposed rule would establish an opt-in process through which eligible drinking water systems may apply for up to two additional years—from 2029 to 2031—to come into compliance with enforceable limits the agency set in 2024 for two PFAS: perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS).
“We are upholding the federal drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a briefing. “The science on these two chemicals are some of the strongest of any drinking water contaminant we regulate.”
The agency is rescinding the standards for the other four chemicals, but not because they don’t matter, he said. “They might warrant strict standards, possibly even stricter than what was previously regulated.”
Because the previous administration didn’t follow the procedural and substantive step-by-step requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act when it regulated them, that rule has been extremely vulnerable, legally, and was already subject to ongoing litigation. “If a court throws it out later, we can lose years,” Zeldin said.
The compliance extension wouldn’t be a blanket delay, but it is designed to be realistic, he said.
Water systems have told the agency they need more time, and technologies are still being developed, Zeldin said. “A deadline you cannot physically meet is not a public health protection. It’s a set up for litigation delay, unintended consequences and hardship.”
Providing water systems more time also may reduce their costs due to technology development, he said.
Top officials from five companies—Veolia North America; CETCO, a division of Minerals Technologies Inc.; Cyclopure; Claros Technologies Inc.; and Desotec—discussed technologies they’ve developed that either pull PFAS from water or destroy the chemicals.
Proposed Rules
The first proposed rule would rescind previous determinations to regulate three PFAS and the 10 parts per trillion (ppt) limit set for them: perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA); perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS); and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA), which is commonly known as “GenX” for the technology used to produce it.
The rule also would rescind the determination to regulate a fourth PFAS, perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), and the unitless “hazard index” method the agency set to restrict mixtures of all four chemicals.
If finalized, the agency’s rule would accomplish a goal the EPA has been unsuccessful achieving in court. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has denied multiple EPA attempts to vacate its decision to regulate the chemicals and standards it set for the four PFAS in the rule that’s being challenged by water utilities and supported by intervening grassroots groups from communities that have dealt with PFAS-contaminated water.
The second proposed rule provides criteria drinking water systems would have to meet to receive two extra years to comply with the 4 ppt PFOA and PFOS limits the agency set in 2024. For example, if drinking water systems had PFOA and PFOS concentrations above 12 ppt, they would have to reduce those levels to receive the two-year compliance extension, the agency said.
Environmental organizations and people living in PFAS-impacted communities immediately blasted the EPA’s announcement.
“While boasting about their supposedly bold actions to clean up America’s drinking water, the Trump administration is doing the opposite: unraveling the only federal requirements to remove toxic forever chemicals from our tap water,” said Katherine O’Brien, senior attorney at Earthjustice, in a statement.
The EPA’s announcements do not change the realities for communities in North Carolina dealing with high levels of unmonitored PFAS pollution, said Clean Cape Fear, which represents communities affected by PFAS pollution, in a statement. “This uncertainty weakens one of the tools communities could use in liability cases against PFAS polluters. It also causes chaos as public water utilities consider how much to invest in PFAS pollution compliance and monitoring of the coming years.”
Effluent Limits
The EPA will issue in coming months technology-based effluent limits and pre-treatment standards for certain industries that discharge PFAS, such as chemical manufacturers, the agency said Monday.
“By reducing PFAS at the point of discharge, EPA lowers the long-term treatment burden on water systems and their ratepayers and gets closer to the source of the problem. Source reduction also limits the volume of PFAS-laden residuals that water systems must ultimately manage, making destruction and disposal more tractable,” the agency said.
Finally, the agency said it will be releasing nearly $1 billion in grants to help small or disadvantaged communities address PFAS and other emerging contaminants. That money is the last of $5 billion the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law established for that purpose, the agency said.