Multiple Community Water Systems in Texas Exceed EPA’s New Limits on ‘Forever Chemicals’

Water researcher Eva Stebel pours a water sample into a smaller glass container for experimentation as part of drinking water and PFAS research at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Center For Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response in Cincinnati on Feb. 16, 2023. Joshua A. Bickel/AP Photo

Multiple community water systems in Texas are reported to exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) new regulatory limits on “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

A local ABC affiliate reported that over 420 water systems have submitted a report to the EPA, 113 of which detected levels of PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals.

Forty-nine systems have more PFAS than the new regulation allows.

“Exposure to PFAS has been linked to deadly cancers, impacts to the liver and heart, and immune and developmental damage to infants and children,” an April 10 EPA press release on the regulation stated. “This final rule represents the most significant step to protect public health under EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap. The final rule will reduce PFAS exposure for approximately 100 million people, prevent thousands of deaths, and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses.”

The initiative to tackle PFAS in water comes from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, which has earmarked $9 billion for removing chemicals from the water.

“Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “That is why President Biden has made tackling PFAS a top priority, investing historic resources to address these harmful chemicals and protect communities nationwide. Our PFAS Strategic Roadmap marshals the full breadth of EPA’s authority and resources to protect people from these harmful forever chemicals.”

According to the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, PFAS are chemicals used to make firefighting foam, waterproof clothing, nonstick cookware, and stain-resistant fabrics.

“During production and use, PFAS can migrate into the soil, water, and air. Most PFAS (including PFOA and PFOS) do not break down, so they remain in the environment,” the agency reported. “Because of their widespread use and their persistence in the environment, PFAS are found in the blood of people and animals all over the world and are present at low levels in a variety of food products and in the environment. Some PFAS can build up in people and animals with repeated exposure over time.”

Texas Cities Face Expensive Treatments

The local news listed several Texas cities with PFAS levels exceeding the new limit, including Fort Worth.

Local governments responsible for the water systems are required to address the PFAS by 2026.

“Even though the rule does give us more time to come into compliance, we’re not delaying our plans or anything,” said Mary Gugliuzza, the Fort Worth Water Department’s media relations and communications coordinator, adding that city officials are expected to be awarded a contract for treating PFAS in water over the summer despite there being “not a lot of technologies available,” and what is available “is going to be very expensive.”

According to the report, the city is considering activated carbon used in water filtration, which would trap the PFAS.

According to the EPA, it’s “the most studied treatment for removal.”

“Activated carbon is commonly used to adsorb natural organic compounds, taste and odor compounds, and synthetic organic chemicals in drinking water treatment systems,” the EPA reported. “Adsorption is both the physical and chemical process of accumulating a substance, such as PFAS, at the interface between liquid and solid phases. Activated carbon is an effective adsorbent because it is a highly porous material and provides a large surface area to which contaminants may adsorb.”

‘A Drop in the Bucket’

Gage Zobell, a partner with the international Dorsey & Whitney law firm, told ABC that the “federal funding will not come close to covering the cost of removing PFAS” from community water systems, which leaves local governments with only two options: increasing fees to pay for upgrades or suing the companies that put the PFAS in the water.

“The need for easy access to water is becoming expensive,” Mr. Zobell said.

According to a 2023 report from the American Water Works Association (AWWA), the new PFAS standards would force local governments to “invest more than $50 billion to install and operate treatment technology over the next 20 years in order to comply” and that the “operational cost of individual clean water utilities” will increase by 60 percent.

The AWWA said that new technologies aren’t “a silver bullet” for PFAS in water.

“Also, the cost of remediation technologies can vary dramatically, depending on the extent of contamination, the selected remediation method, and the scale of the project,” AWWA said.

In 2023, several Texas cities, including Fort Worth, rejected settlement agreements with companies responsible for releasing PFAS into the community water systems.

Chris Harder, Fort Worth’s water director, told the Fort Worth Report that the settlement agreement is a “drop in the bucket” when it comes to how much it will cost to remove PFAS.

“If you are having thousands of utilities doing treatment projects, those are not going to be just $2 billion but significantly, significantly more expensive than that,” Mr. Harder said. “Without any other funding mechanism, those costs get transferred to the ratepayer.”