EPA Proposed First Standards To Make Drinking Water Safer

Under the rule, water systems must monitor for six specific chemicals, notify the public about PFAS levels, as well as work to reduce them if the levels reported are higher than the standard limit allowed.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed the first National drinking water standard for ‘forever chemicals’ that are dangerous to human health.

The new rule is expected to set drinking water standards for polyfluoroalkyl substances, also referred to as PFAS or ‘forever chemicals’. They are a ‘family of ubiquitous synthetic chemicals that linger in the environment and the human body’ and are capable of causing intense health problems.

Under the rule, water systems must monitor for six specific chemicals, notify the public about PFAS levels, as well as work to reduce them if the levels reported are higher than the standard limit allowed.

EPA Administrator, Michael Regan, said the proposed rule would protect the health of people for generations. He shared that PFAS contamination is ‘one of the most pressing environmental and public health concerns in the modern world’.

The EPA’s proposed limits set the allowable levels for these chemicals so low that they could not be easily detected.