EPA will roll back limits on 4 'forever chemicals.' See if they were found in your water.
The Environmental Protection Agency announced plans May 14 to rescind drinking water limits it set on four “forever chemicals” last spring.
A Paste BN analysis of EPA data shows the chemicals have recently been detected in hundreds of water systems serving over 84 million Americans.
Most of these detections weren’t enough to trigger action under the now-abandoned rule, but dozens of utilities providing water to a total of 4 million Americans reported measurements that would have required them to install advanced filtration or find other sources of water.
This group includes water systems covering Fort Worth in Texas and Fresno and Sacramento in California, which each serve over a half-million customers.
This tally is an undercount, though, as the EPA data is incomplete. The agency is only halfway through a three-year effort requiring thousands of water systems to test for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. These manmade chemicals don’t easily decompose in nature, so they tend to accumulate in human bodies, where they can lead to certain cancers and other serious health complications.
The EPA originally adopted its PFAS rule under the Biden administration in April 2024, setting limits on six types of chemicals. Limits on just two of those – PFOS and PFOA – will remain set at 4 parts per trillion, although the EPA now plans to give water systems two more years to comply, setting the deadline in 2031 instead of 2029.
“We will work to provide common-sense flexibility in the form of additional time for compliance,” said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in a news release. “This will support water systems across the country, including small systems in rural communities, as they work to address these contaminants.”
Shortly after the rule was approved last spring, trade associations representing water utilities filed suit to challenge it, echoing sentiments many water systems have told Paste BN. They say the regulation unfairly burdens them and their customers with the expense of filtering out chemicals put there by outside sources, such as airports, military bases and manufacturers.
The executive director of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators, which is one of the organizations that sued the EPA, applauded the two-year delay.
“States and water systems are struggling with the timeframes to complete the pilot testing, development of construction plans and building the necessary treatment improvements,” said Alan Roberson in a news release.
The EPA plans to reconsider limits on these four chemicals and finalize its reworked PFAS rule by next spring. In the meantime, the agency announced a new initiative called “PFAS OUT” to share resources, tools, funding opportunities and technical assistance with water utilities, particularly those struggling with PFOS or PFOA levels above the agency’s limits.
Clean water advocates suspected changes were coming for months, since the Trump administration returned to power, but they were still dismayed by the announcement.
“We're just going to have to keep drinking PFAS for another decade,” said Betsy Southerland, a retired official from the EPA’s water office. “By having drinking water standards only for PFOA and PFOS we're dealing with the legacy contamination. … All the current ones they're now using will not have any drinking water standards.”
Southerland accused the EPA of providing relief to PFAS manufacturers, which developed the four chemicals whose limits are now rescinded as alternatives to older types of forever chemicals.
She said the filtration technique that typically works on the two PFAS that still have limits – known as granular activated carbon – is less effective on the four chemicals whose limits have been nixed. So, more of those chemicals could now legally remain, even in drinking water that’s been treated to remove PFOS and PFOA.
“(Utilities) might have to do some additional different kind of treatment than granulated activated carbon, and so that's what (the EPA) is giving them full relief from,” Southerland explained.
“This is a public health betrayal, plain and simple,” added Melanie Benesh, vice president of government affairs for the nonprofit Environmental Working Group. “The EPA is bowing to industry pressure and leaving millions exposed to toxic PFAS in their tap water.”
Her organization has estimated 158 million Americans drink water contaminated with forever chemicals, based on additional state and federal test results that extend beyond the EPA data Paste BN used in its analysis.
Benesh pointed out 2021’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law included billions of dollars for removing PFAS from drinking water and that some large manufacturers have paid multibillion-dollar settlements to utilities. She accused the EPA of shifting the burden to the public instead of further strengthening clean water laws or holding polluters accountable.
“Instead of building on this progress, the Trump Administration is threatening to leave Americans to foot the bill for drinking water they can’t trust and healthcare they can’t afford,” Benesh said.