Nicole Krawcke: The war on forever chemicals

Happy spring! I cannot believe it’s already April. This year is flying by.

One of my goals this year is to be healthier and reduce waste. So far, I feel I’m off to a good start. I’ve cut out most caffeine (only succumbing to coffee when I’m on the road nowadays) and am drinking more water throughout the day. I get mine filtered from my refrigerator, and feel good about reducing the amount of single-use plastics in my home. Though the water in my area is safely within legal limits, I’ve never been much of a drink from the tap girl.

Those legal limits however may soon be changing for the better.

Last month, the Biden-Harris Administration announced it is proposing the first-ever national drinking water standard for six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The proposal, if finalized, would regulate PFOA and PFOS as individual contaminants, and will regulate four other PFAS — PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX Chemicals — as a mixture. If finalized, the proposed regulation would also require public water systems to monitor for these PFAS, notify the public of the levels of these PFAS and reduce the levels of these PFAS in drinking water if they exceed the proposed standards.

Currently, there are several state standards and guidelines for multiple PFAS compounds, but if enacted as proposed, the EPA’s new standard would be stricter than any of the current state regulations. Additionally, a little more than half a dozen states are restricting or banning PFAS in products, including food packaging, firefighting foam and personal care products.

Reducing the number of contaminants in our drinking water sounds like a no-brainer to me.

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) issued a statement regarding the proposed standard, saying, “As a community of water professionals, AWWA and its members share EPA’s desire to keep harmful levels of PFAS out of the nation’s drinking water. We support setting national drinking water standards for PFAS that protect all consumers, including the most sensitive populations, using the best available science. We stand for transparency and support requirements for utilities to actively share PFAS monitoring results and other water quality information with consumers. We support sound scientific process to create regulations in which the public health benefits outweigh the costs.”

AWWA stated it would carefully review the EPA’s proposal and provide comments during the public comment period.

It’s great that our nation is taking water quality seriously. And what better time to discuss this timely news than in our water quality issue! Don’t miss our article on some of the latest trends in water filtration products, including Point-of-Entry and Point-of-Use systems, as well as how plumbers can capitalize on consumers’ growing awareness of water quality.