The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on January 6 the automatic addition of nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) list.
TRI data are reported to the EPA annually by facilities in certain industry sectors and federal facilities that manufacture, process, or otherwise use TRI-listed chemicals above certain quantities. The data include quantities of such chemicals that were released into the environment or otherwise managed as waste.
Information collected through the TRI allows communities to learn how facilities in their area are managing the chemicals. The data collected also helps to support informed decision-making by companies, government agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and the public.
The addition of these PFAS continues the federal government’s push to address the impacts of these forever chemicals. More information can be found here.
NGWA has long been an industry leader in providing PFAS research, education, and resources to the public and scientific communities. Learn more by visiting NGWA.org/PFAS, which is a complete resource center about the groundwater contaminants featuring a recently updated top-10 facts sheet, a position paper, and more.
Also found there is Groundwater and PFAS: State of Knowledge and Practice, which NGWA published in 2017 and is one of the first PFAS guidance documents to be released. The Association hosted its second conference last year in Westerville, Ohio, focused entirely on PFAS science and remediation.