12/22/2024
WT Staff
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December 23, 2024 241 pm EST
Fifty years of SDWA, is our drinking water safe?
Part 1: "Forever Chemicals", PFAS
In April 2024, "forever chemicals" were officially added to Safe Drinking Water legislation in the USA. Forever chemicals refers to PFAS - per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a class of synthetic chemical compounds widely used in manufacturing of all manner of industrial and consumer products. These substances do not break down, they are accumulating and circulating in the environment. The source of exposure is so broad, they could be called "Everywhere chemicals". EPA indicates 20% of population exposure is in drinking water, Personal care products and cosmetics, non-stick cookware, fast food packaging, fire fighting foam, certain pharmaceuticals, artificial turf and pesticides. US EPA recognizes 140 distinct PFAS molecules in the Toxic Release Inventory list, however just six are entrenched in the National Primary Drinking Water Regulation. Canada Health indicates there are many thousands of varieties of these man-made chemicals in the circulation, some sources suggest the precursors and components of the known PFAS compounds may be recombining to form novel versions not yet considered. These chemicals do not degrade in the environment, are accumulating in the general population, passing negative health effects to the next generations.
Public drinking water facilities in the USA have until 2029 to expand or adapt treatment operations to remove the six highlighted PFAS chemicals below a maximum contaminant level. In the mean time, damage from forever chemicals makes headlines every day, including a recent lawsuit launched against the EPA for allowing PFAS-laden biosolids spread on farm fields. Cattle on a neighboring ranch poisoned by PFAS-contaminated water and grass have become sick, disabled and since 2022, many have died. WaterToday discussed the magnitude of the PFAS contaminant issue with Dr. Kayla Bennett, Director of Science Policy at PEER, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
According to Bennett, human waste biosolids were spread on the Texas fields at least three times, beginning in 2016, in around 2018 and 2022. The first sign of trouble was a fish kill, sometime after 2018. Since 2022, thirty-nine cattle have died from the herd of around 200. Bennett says the cows became weak, they couldn't walk, the babies were stillborn. One stillborn calf was tested with 610 thousand parts per trillion PFAS in its liver.
Bennett went on to describe other sources of PFAS contamination that remain a threat for the environment and public health. Wastewater treatment plants measure PFAS in the sewage coming in lower than the treated stream going back to the environment. This continuous loop occurs because the substances do not degrade, they just recirculate. Bennett explains that PFAS components and precursor materials in the sewage are coming from human contact with household products, drinking water and air are passing through the sanitary sewer and recombining to form novel PFAS chemicals.
Beyond the better known PFAS-bearing products such as Teflon and fire fighting foams, there are sources of PFAS contamination for which the risk of exposure has not been widely publicized. Artificial turf has been linked to athletes higher levels of PFAS and cancers, yet the manufacturing of this product goes on, the market uptake continues. Evidence of groundwater contamination around these fields has not deterred the expansion of artificial turf in the USA. Children play on these fields, the toxins being taken up faster than our collective understanding and action.
Boston bans artificial turf, see the Guardian article here.
When it comes to enforcing PFAS-limiting measures, the actions of government agencies responsible for protection of water resources is too light and too late. Bennett says slow uptake of evidence of PFAS information and slow response by regulators and the public is confounding. The public is just beginning to understand the consequences of polluting our drinking water with toxics from our lifestyle choices. It is clear that what we inhale, absorb and ingest enters the watersheds via wastewater effluent, deposited into the same water bodies accessed as a drinking water source. The PFAS chemical contaminants are not breaking down, they accumulate and recirculate, yet the masses are not giving up the non-stick cookware, the waterproof clothing and cosmetics, the fragrances and the sports fields.
To Bennett, the responsibility is with the government, to regulate industry and ensure that consumer products are safe. As there is no safe level of PFAS, any effective regulation must be sweeping, covering the entire class of per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, with rare exceptions for critical uses until an alternative is found. In spite of the US EPA recognizing more than ten thousand PFAS chemicals and the dangers to human and environmental health, the response has been painfully incomplete and slow.
Earlier this month, the EPA released an update to the analytical method for PFAS testing in a number of waste streams, including biosolids. The updated method, 1633A is suggested for inspectors to apply in the monitoring of the National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System permits. The method is a guide for assessing PFAS, not a legally enforceable limit for PFAS. Until manufacturers are required to disclose all the chemicals used in their products, and until the agency responsible for the protection of water resources enforces the limits, organizations such as PEER will continue to battle through the courts.
The US Environmental Protection Agency had not responded to our request for a statement on the PEER lawsuit in Texas by the time of publication. We will update the article when we receive that statement.
Kyla Bennett holds a Ph.D. in Ecology and a law degree, a former employee of the EPA, turned whistleblower. Dr. Bennett raised even more concern with PFAS than we were anticipating, including artificial turf as a source of PFAS contamination. See Bennett's commentary on artificial turf, here.
Next week, we will delve into the plastics chemicals found in common consumer products, bisphenols, phthalates and others tracked in national health surveys over many years. Dr. Maureen Cropper is an Environmental Economist at University of Maryland. Her recent work relates exposure to contaminants in consumer products with health monitoring data of various countries, demonstrating a correlation between contaminants and population mortality. More to follow in Part 2.
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