Numerous sites across South County, including Charlestown
By Mary Lhowe / ecoRI News
contributor
|
PFAS, manufactured since the 1940s, can be found in our food, our drinking water, and in our body tissue. They are in the soil, in rainwater, and in emissions spewed into the air. (EPA) |
The Biden administration and the Environmental Protection
Agency announced new guidelines this month that will give a push to efforts
around the nation, including in Rhode Island, to eliminate or reduce toxic per-
and polyfluoroalkyl substances — a class of chemicals known as PFAS — from
drinking water.
The announcement created the first nationwide and
enforceable ceiling — or “maximum contaminant level” (MCL) — of 4 parts per
trillion (ppt) of PFAS in drinking water. A few types of PFAS chemicals were
given a federal MCL of 10 ppt.
The new federal levels are more restrictive than the
current maximum contaminant level in Rhode Island, which is 20 ppt in drinking
water. Up to April 10, when the guidelines were announced, no federal level
existed; states devised maximum contaminant levels for themselves.
The announcement also said the federal government would
offer $1 billion to states and territories for testing and treatment of
drinking water. It is part of a $9 billion investment through the Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law to help communities track and clean up PFAS and other
“emerging contaminants” in drinking water.
EPA believes that 6% to 10% of the nation’s 66,000 public
drinking water systems may have to take action to reduce PFAS to meet the new
standards. It also said the final rule of April 10 would reduce PFAS exposure
for about 100 million people.
Both through legislation and in water treatment
facilities and water pipes, Rhode Island has been working over the past few
years to get control over PFAS — a class of toxic chemicals that have been used
since the 1940s in a wide range of consumer products from food wrappers to
carpets to Teflon pans to firefighting foam.