On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency will announce new national regulations for drinking water contaminated with PFAS.
The guidance serves as the “first-ever national, legally enforceable drinking water standard” regulating PFAS, according to a Tuesday news release. The announcement will take place at the P.O. Hoffer Water Treatment Facility in Fayetteville — which has been at the forefront of the national PFAS contamination crisis.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of toxic and pervasive chemicals that are linked to a myriad of harmful health effects. Chemours and its predecessor, Dupont, dumped PFAS, including GenX, into the Cape Fear River for decades, contaminating the drinking water of hundreds of thousands of people in Fayetteville and the surrounding areas.
EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan and Brenda Mallory, chairwoman of the White House’s Council on Environmental Quality, will make the announcement Wednesday. They will be accompanied by Gov. Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein, as well as Mayor Mitch Colvin and representatives of two major clean water advocacy organizations.
Previously, the EPA has only offered advisory guidelines — not enforceable standards — to public water systems on PFAS contamination levels in tap water.
The announcement comes a little over a year after the EPA proposed implementing standards to regulate six types of PFAS. The new standards are part of the EPA’s 2021-2024 roadmap, a comprehensive strategy for addressing widespread PFAS contamination.
In addition to the EPA’s announcement of the new rules, the press release states, the Biden-Harris Administration will announce the latest funding through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address and test for PFAS contamination for private well owners and public water systems.
Event details:
Contact Evey Weisblat at eweisblat@cityviewnc.com or 216-527-3608.
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