The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing on October 20 to assess the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing and proposed responses to the presence of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) in our environment, particularly the nation’s waters.
Radhika Fox, the EPA’s assistant administrator for the Office of Water, was the primary witness at the hearing. Fox updated the committee on the EPA’s recently announced PFAS Strategic Roadmap and the importance of increased infrastructure spending to remediate PFAS in the country’s drinking water supply. Throughout the hearing, Fox advocated for the passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which was passed by the Senate earlier this year.
“Investment in infrastructure is crucial to providing communities the resources and technologies they need to combat the PFAS contamination,” Fox said.
Arizona Senator Mark Kelly (D) spoke on the increased need for funding PFAS remediation in Arizona after the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation decreased their allotment of water from Lake Mead earlier this year. Kelly noted that many communities will now be turning to groundwater as a drinking water source, but PFAS plumes continue to contaminant many of the aquifers in the state. Kelly argued without increased funding for the remediation of Arizona’s groundwater, they could experience increased exposure to PFAS in the state’s groundwater supply.
Click here to watch the hearing.
NGWA has long been an industry leader in providing PFAS research, education, and resources to the public and scientific communities. In 2017, NGWA published Groundwater and PFAS: State of Knowledge and Practice, which was one of the first PFAS guidance documents to be released. It can be found at NGWA.org/PFAS, which is a complete resource center about the groundwater contaminants featuring a FAQs document, a top-10 facts sheet, a homeowner checklist, and more.