Minnesota is the site of a high-profile drinking-water contamination case linked to so-called forever chemicals, and advocates are hopeful that a new national standard announced Wednesday will protect residents in the future.
The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled a final rule that, for the first time, sets a legally enforceable drinking-water benchmark for PFAS chemicals that all states will have to follow. Scientists have been highlighting health risks with more detections of PFAS in everyday products and water sources.
Avonna Starck, state director for Clean Water Action, said requiring near-zero levels sends a strong message.
“We’ve been hearing from polluters that it’s too hard, it’s too expensive, it’s not feasible to stop using these chemicals,” Starck pointed out. “This standard really said, ‘No, actually, this is something that we’re gonna do, this is something that we can do.'”
Operators of public water systems are concerned about the costs of updating facilities. However, officials noted that federal funding is available to help with the transition. Minnesota recently adopted its own PFAS law, which emphasizes product bans, following a 2018 settlement with manufacturer 3M over claims its production of PFAS chemicals damaged drinking water and natural resources.
The subsequent state law was named in honor of Amara Strande, who died last year from cancer her family believes is linked to the toxic chemical waste from 3M. Her sister Nora said the new federal standard for drinking water is welcome news.
“PFAS is in the air, it’s in the water, it’s in our products, it’s in our land,” Strande outlined. “We need to work on this on multiple levels.”
Under the new rule, the EPA estimated between 6% and 10% of 66,000 public drinking water systems around the U.S. may have to take action to reduce PFAS. All of them have three years to complete initial monitoring. If levels exceed the new standards, the systems must take corrective action within five years.
Mike Moen writes for the Minnesota News Connection.
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