EPA tightens the health standard for 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday recommended a new limit for certain PFAS compounds in drinking water after concluding almost no amount of the "forever chemicals" appears to be safe.

Environmental groups have long sought much tighter restrictions on PFAS and welcomed the move.

"It's further confirmation that these PFAS can be very toxic at very low levels and there's really a need to regulate them much more stringently," said Melanie Benesh, legislative attorney for the Environmental Working Group. "These polluters have gotten a 50-year free pass."

The new federal thresholds are significantly lower than the Minnesota standards for two of the chemicals, drawing skepticism from state health officials.

In an interview, Jim Kelly, Minnesota Department of Health's manager of environmental surveillance and assessment, said the federal regulator is "on the right track" but that the revised limits are so low they stretch the ability of labs to test for them. That complicates efforts to measure the effectiveness of steps to treat water for PFAS, among other problems.

"It's significantly lower than any guidance values that have been issued previously by just about anyone," Kelly said.

Kelly criticized the federal agency for a lack of transparency in how it developed the new near-zero lifetime standards, and said the state is trying to figure out the most appropriate way to use the data. The state Department of Health is in the middle of testing some 900 community water systems across the state to ensure that they meet Minnesota's nonbinding health limits on six different types of PFAS.

"We're going to be reviewing the same information to determine what we think is the appropriate value for Minnesota," Kelly said.

Nonetheless, the state is making at least one immediate adjustment. Sandeep Burman, manager of the Health Department's drinking water protection section, said they have asked their labs to get PFAS detections down to 2 parts per trillion. The agency collects that data as it tests community water systems.

"We can't really see things below that 2 parts per trillion," Burman said.

Burman said the state won't retest all the community wells that have been tested, but could target some of them.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents big chemical companies, accused the EPA of getting the science wrong. "These new levels cannot be achieved with existing treatment technology and, in fact, are below levels that can be reliably detected using existing EPA methods," it said in a statement.

PFAS is short for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a large class of chemicals pioneered by Maplewood-based 3M Co. with extra-tight carbon-fluorine bonds that give them nonstick qualities and make them resistant to water, oil and heat. They don't break down in the environment, and some of the compounds — particularly the original ones called PFOS and PFOA — have been linked to a variety of diseases, including cancer.

They've been used in industrial and consumer products since the 1940s and the number of formulations has multiplied. The chemicals are now everywhere: in mascara, dental floss, carpeting and medical products, and they've made their way into human blood and wildlife — even polar bears.

The EPA issued nonbinding lifetime health advisories for four PFAS: PFOS, PFOA and their respective replacements PFBS and GenX chemicals.

The EPA said states and territories can apply for $1 billion in grants to address drinking water polluted with PFAS and other emerging contaminants. "Small and disadvantaged communities" will take top priority, the EPA said.

"People on the front-lines of PFAS contamination have suffered for far too long," EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan said in a statement.

For PFOS and PFOA, the oldest and most studied of the chemicals, the new federal drinking water limit is lower than Minnesota's. For PFBS, the EPA set its first-ever limit and it is higher than Minnesota's. The limit on GenX chemicals is also the EPA's first, but Minnesota does not have a drinking water limit for those because they haven't been found here, an agency spokesman said.

As home to 3M, Minnesota has struggled with the impacts of PFAS in the environment and drinking water for decades, particularly in the east metro where 3M's large Cottage Grove facility is located. In 2021, the state issued a PFAS Blueprint for expanded action. State and federal regulators continue to investigate the company's reporting of PFBS discharges from its Cottage Grove complex on the Mississippi River.

The state Department of Health has been testing community water systems statewide to ensure that drinking water meets the state's nonbinding PFAS health limits, with an interactive PFAS dashboard on its website for the public to track the tests and get more information.

Nearly half of about 900 public systems have been tested. PFAS was present at some level in nearly two-thirds of those tested but the "vast majority" were below Minnesota's current standards, the Department of Health said. Only one — St. Paul Park — tested above the state threshold. It wasn't immediately clear whether more would be considered contaminated under the EPA's new recommended limit.

Jeff Dionisopoulos, St. Paul Park's public works supervisor, said that PFAS reading does not pose a threat because it came from one of three city wells — a backup it rarely taps. The city already built a treatment plant to filter PFAS from the two wells it uses, he said. The third well exists in case of a major emergency related to the Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s St. Paul Park refinery.

"We're well covered," Dionisopoulos said. "We are providing water to our residents with zero PFAS."

While its current limits are advisory, the EPA said it will propose enforceable regulations for PFOA and PFOS for drinking water this fall, and will consider them for other types of PFAS.

EPA's new health limits, in parts per trillion, or ppt MN's existing health-based values:

PFOA: .004 PFOA: 35

PFOS: .02 PFOS: 15

PFBS: 2,000 PFBS: 100

GenX: 10 GenX: n/a