A new Environmental Protection Agency proposal aimed at\u00a0eliminating \u201cforever chemicals\u201d in drinking water\u00a0could cost local water utilities millions of dollars each, and some of that price tag is already being passed on to consumers.
The EPA\u2019s regulation would limit a handful of PFAS \u2014 a label for the thousands of potentially harmful chemicals that don\u2019t easily break down \u2014\u00a0in drinking water to the lowest detectable limits, 4 parts per trillion. Should the proposal pass,\u00a0one study estimated annual costs to water utilities could exceed $3.8 billion, expenses that could trickle down to ratepayers.\u00a0
Costs are already being levied in states that are proactively cleaning up chemicals: PFAS cleanup contributed to increasing water utility rates by\u00a018% in Hudson, Massachusetts, and by\u00a050% in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and it\u2019s anticipated to raise water rates\u00a0at 13% this year and another 13% in 2024 in Hawthorne, New Jersey.
Whether the new EPA standards are attainable for affected water utilities remains up in the air, according to interviews with experts, state-level environmental agencies and the utilities themselves.
\u201cSome systems may have to drill new wells or add treatment to address PFAS levels in their drinking water,\u201d Meaghan Cibarich, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, wrote in an email, adding that new wells could cost anywhere from $5,000 to $2 million.
PFAS, an abbreviation for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have been found in products that are made to be resistant to water, stains and heat. These chemicals have been detected in household items such as nonstick frying pans, waterproof clothing and some fast-food wrappers and plastic containers.\u00a0Exposure to PFAS is associated with organ cancers, high cholesterol and thyroid disease.\u00a0
Julia Varshavsky, an environmental scientist at Northeastern University\u2019s\u00a0PFAS Project Lab, said\u00a0the EPA\u2019s move\u00a0amounted to a declaration that any level of PFAS was unsafe.\u00a0
\u201cThe proposed maximum contaminant levels that the EPA released for PFAS was a super groundbreaking move because it lowered the amount to as small as we can actually measure,\u201d Varshavsky said. \u201cIt\u2019s basically like saying there\u2019s no real safe level of these legacy PFAS compounds.\u201d
The\u00a0EPA estimates that 70 million to 94 million people in the U.S.\u00a0are affected by PFAS-contaminated drinking water, though Varshavsky said the estimate is likely an understatement because the tests\u00a0only monitor six out of thousands of different PFAS.\u00a0
In the absence of national regulation, some states have taken PFAS testing into their own hands. This is done by setting a maximum contamination limit, or MCL, on a chemical and monitoring water systems for violations. In total, 10 states have enacted enforceable limits on PFAS in drinking water, while another 12 may monitor but are not required to report violations to a regulatory agency.
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