EPA Proposes to Regulate Six PFAS in Drinking Water
On March 14, 2023, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its proposal for a National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for six PFAS, including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA, or GenX chemicals). The proposed NPDWR includes non-enforceable Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs) and enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for all six PFAS. For PFOA and PFOS, the proposed MCLGs are zero and the proposed MCLs are 4 parts per trillion (ppt). For PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and HFPO-DA, the EPA is proposing a combined, unitless hazard index of 1 for both the MCLG and MCL. The EPA has developed a fact sheet describing the process of calculating the hazard index PFAS MCL. Proposed MCLGs, MCLs, and health-based water concentrations, which are used to calculate the hazard index MCL, are provided in the table below.
Proposed Regulatory Values for PFAS in Drinking Water
The EPA is holding a public hearing on the proposed NPDWR on May 4, 2023. Interested parties must register for the public hearing by April 28, 2023. Public comments on the proposed NPDWR can be submitted online until May 30, 2023. The EPA anticipates the rule will be finalized by the end of 2023, and the rule would require compliance three years after promulgation. A more detailed summary of the proposed NPDWR is included in a Special Edition of our PFAS Technical Newsletter.
U.S. President’s Budget Released for Fiscal Year 2024, Includes $170 Million for PFAS
On March 9, 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden released his budget request for fiscal year 2024. The budget, which has already been sent to Congress, includes $12.1 billion in discretionary budget authority for the EPA, including $170 million for the EPA to address PFAS. As described in an EPA news release, the funding is for “increasing our knowledge of PFAS impacts to human health and ecological effects, restricting use to prevent PFAS from entering the air, land, and water, and remediating PFAS that have been released into the environment.” Congress will consider the President’s budget and will pass appropriations bills that, once signed into law by the President, will enact federal agency budgets.
White House Releases Reports on PFAS State of the Science, Government Progress
In March 2023, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) released a PFAS Report. The document is a “state of the science report that that includes gaps and opportunities for the Federal Government.” The report includes summaries of PFAS topics including treatment, more environmentally friendly alternatives, sources, exposure pathways, toxicity, environmental justice considerations, shared challenges, and priority areas for opportunity. The areas for opportunity identified by the OSTP include developing more sensitive analytical methods, understanding human and ecological health effects, and mitigating PFAS exposure. Over the next year, the OSTP will prepare and operationalize a strategic plan and implementation framework to coordinate PFAS-related activities in these strategic areas by “harnessing existing research and accelerating transformative advancements.”
Also in March 2023, the White House Council on Environmental Quality released a report titled Biden-Harris Administration Progress on PFAS: Steps Taken and Ongoing Actions. The report highlights actions by nearly two dozen federal agencies on PFAS and notes that addressing PFAS-related challenges is “one of the largest scientific and policy efforts of the Biden-Harris Administration.” Progress updates on PFAS analytical methods, monitoring, remediation, disposal, health effects, community outreach, and policy efforts are provided. Additionally, agency-specific ongoing and planned actions through 2024 are included in the report.
TRI National Analysis for 2021 Released, PFAS Included
On March 16, 2023, the EPA released its 2021 Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis, which includes quantities of TRI chemicals managed aswaste and released to the environment by facilities covered by the TRI program. For Reporting Year (RY) 2021, 176 PFAS were listed as TRI chemicals. Approximately 1.3 million pounds of PFAS were managed as waste in RY 2021, a 60% increase from RY 2020. The increase is largely due to one PFAS, perfluorooctyl iodide, which the EPA began requiring facilities to report in RY 2021. Additionally, approximately 110,000 pounds of PFAS were released to the environment in RY 2021, a 500% increase from RY 2020. The increase is largely due to PFAS releases within the hazardous waste management sector that primarily went to regulated landfills. Most facilities that reported PFAS in RY 2021 are in the chemical manufacturing and hazardous waste management sectors. TRI data for RY 2022 is due to the EPA on July 1, 2023 and includes 180 PFAS, four more PFAS than RY 2021.
The EPA is seeking input on the TRI National Analysis content and format. Public input can be provided through an online survey.
EPA Holds Listening Sessions on CERCLA PFAS Enforcement, PFAS Strategic Roadmap
On September 6, 2022, the EPA published a Proposed Rule to designate PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, or Superfund). On March 14 and 23, 2023, the EPA held virtual listening sessions to “to seek individual input on concerns about enforcement under CERCLA for PFAS contamination.” During the 60-day public comment period on the Proposed Rule, the EPA received more than 64,000 written comments on the Proposed Rule. The EPA announced in the listening sessions that several entities would be exempt from CERCLA enforcement if the Proposed Rule is promulgated, including farmers land applying biosolids, local fire departments, and public drinking water facilities, wastewater facilities, municipal solid waste landfills, and airports. The EPA will incorporate comments made during these listening sessions into its final rule, which the EPA anticipates will be published in summer 2023.
Additionally, EPA regional offices are holding a series of virtual listening sessions through April 2023 to provide information on the EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap and to seek feedback from community members to “inform the implementation of the actions described in the Roadmap.” The EPA released its PFAS Strategic Roadmap in October 2021, and it includes the EPA’s planned actions on PFAS through 2024. Registration for the remaining listening sessions can be completed online.
ECOS Releases Papers on PFAS in Biosolids, Setting State PFAS Standards
Recently, the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS) released two papers on PFAS. On January 27, 2023, ECOS released a paper titled PFAS in Biosolids: A Review of State Efforts & Opportunities for Action. The paper provides a review of state-provided information on policies, testing, research gaps, and risk communication challenges related to PFAS in biosolids and outlines opportunities for regulation, research, and risk communication. Additionally, on March 9, 2023, ECOS released a paper titled Processes and Considerations for Setting State PFAS Standards. The paper is an update to previous versions of the paper published in 2020, 2021, and 2022. The paper presents compiled information on state PFAS standards, advisories, and guidance values, considerations for future state PFAS regulations, and information on state regulatory activities that have occurred in the past year. ECOS plans to continue updating the paper on an annual basis.
New York Publishes Final Ambient Water Quality Guidance Values for PFOA, PFOS
On March 15, 2023, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) released final ambient water quality guidance values for PFOA and PFOS. The values, which are applicable to ambient waters used as drinking water sources, will be incorporated into requirements for industrial discharges needing a DEC State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit. The guidance values are summarized in the table below.
Final Ambient Water Quality Guidance Values for PFOA and PFOS
The final values are the same as the proposed guidance values that were released in 2021 for public review and comment. In 2020, New York promulgated MCLs of 10 ppt for PFOA and PFOS. The final human health guidance values are lower than the MCLs to “provide an extra margin of safety against the potential build-up of these contaminants to levels approaching or exceeding the MCLs.” In addition to the PFOA and PFOS guidance values, guidance values for 1,4-dixoane were also released.
Geosyntec Technical PFAS Webinars Available on Demand
Webinars presented by Geosyntec practitioners covering a broad range of PFAS topics including site investigation, treatment, forensics, stormwater management, and toxicology and risk assessment are available on demand at www.geosyntec.com/pfas-webinars and www.geosyntec.com/webinars/ondemand-webinars. The webinars are free to view and professional development hours are available from our training department.
