Mounting public concerns and new state regulations in the U.S. are compelling water & wastewater utilities to address health risks associated with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – a class of pervasive chemicals found in drinking water and wastewater biproducts.
Nine Orange County water agencies have retained a legal team to study whether to file suit to recoup the estimated $450 million cost of purifying drinking water in local wells contaminated with PFAS chemicals.
The PFAS compounds — long used in Scotchguard, Teflon and other products — have leached into groundwater supplies over several decades and have been linked to a variety of health problems, including cancer, liver and kidney damages and ulcerative colitis.
It’s likely that 3M and DuPont, the primary manufacturers of PFAS products, would be defendants.
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra today, as part of a coalition of 18 attorneys general, urged the Environmental Protection Agency to broaden and strengthen the review and regulation of per-fluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, collectively known as PFAS.
The Orange County Water District, which serves 2.5 million county residents, expects to see nearly a third of the 200 groundwater wells in its service area shut down by year’s end because of the presence of toxic PFAS, a chemical family linked to cancer, liver and kidney damage, low birth weight and other health problems.
Nine of those wells have already been closed and 32 more are expected to be closed in coming weeks as state regulators continue to lower acceptable thresholds for the toxins, according to district officials. As many as 31 additional wells could be shut down after testing is expanded later this year.
New data shows that rainwater in some parts of the US contains high enough levels of potentially toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to possibly affect human health and may, if found in drinking water, in some cases be high enough to trigger regulatory action.
Last weekend a film called “Dark Water” opened in theaters, starring Mark Ruffalo as a corporate man who discovers that his company is responsible for putting bad chemicals into the public water supply. Predictable drama ensues.
The plot of “Dark Water” centers around the harmful human and animal health effects of PFAS and PFOS.
The clock is ticking. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Wednesday to decide on a bill that would make California the first state in the nation to require water suppliers who monitor a broad class of toxic “forever chemicals” to notify customers if they’re present in drinking water. “A decision will come tomorrow,” a spokesman for Newsom said Tuesday. He declined to say what it would be. The PFAS chemicals, which have been widely used in everything from firefighting foam to Teflon pans, Scotchgard products and even some dental floss, have been linked in some research to cancers, developmental problems and thyroid and liver disease. They’re known as “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down in the environment or in human bodies.
The Water News Network is San Diego County’s source for water news and information.
