Environmental groups fear rescinding standards on forever chemicals will harm North Carolina
The EPA announced planned on Wednesday to roll back some of the federal drinking water standards set last year to address forever chemicals, known as PFAs.
The man-made chemicals, which can be found in waterproof clothing, nonstick pans and firefighting foam, do not break down in the environment or our bodies and have been linked to adverse health effects, including cancer.
EPA: Local water systems contain pollutants, toxic forever chemicals
In 2024, the Biden Administration's EPA announced the first federal standards addressing these chemicals in drinking water, requiring water utilities test for PFAs at extremely small levels by 2027 and to keep concentrations under the new standards by 2029.
Water utilities pushed back, claiming compliance would be too expensive, especially under such a tight deadline. The EPA estimated it could cost roughly $5B for utilities to upgrade their water infrastructure system and get testing equipment installed in five years, though some funding was available through the IIJA and lawsuits against companies responsible for PFAs pollution.
Wednesday's announcement laid out the EPA's plan to cut back on some of those Biden-era regulations. It would keep the standards for common two types of PFAs chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, in place, though it eliminates standards for three other chemicals, including what's known as 'Gen X.'
That exemption caused particular concern to Kelly Moser, the leader of North Carolina's water program for the Southern Environmental Law Center. Gen X was the chemical at the heart of PFAs pollution investigation in the Cape Fear River, in which the company Chemours was found to be discharging the chemical into the drinking water source for several downstream communities.
'We've seen Gen X tainting the drinking water for over 500,000 North Carolinians,' Moser said. 'So we've seen the harm Gen X can cause these other PFAs chemicals that are now being removed from the drinking water rule also cause similar health harms.'
Moser said ultimately, the responsibility for keeping PFAs out of drinking water should rest on polluters not water utilities, but removing this rule without adding additional industry regulations means there's less pressure on companies to reduce PFAs contamination.
This is somewhere she believes states can step up, though she's been disappointed in the Environmental Management Commission's action so far, as regulators move forward on rules that require companies to monitor, not limit PFAs pollution.
'It's it's more important than ever that our state, state environmental agencies step up and use the authority they have under the Clean Water Act to require industries to stop discharging PFAs into our drinking water sources in the first place,' she said. 'That is the most just and cost effective way to prevent PFAs pollution.'
Charlotte Water already tests for several PFAs chemicals and posts the results publicly. According to the latest data, city drinking water is in compliance with the 2024 federal requirements.
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