The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on February 13 the availability of $2 billion from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address emerging contaminants, like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), in drinking water across the country.
This investment, which is allocated to states and territories, will be made available to communities as grants through EPA’s Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities (EC-SDC) Grant Program and will promote access to safe and clean water in small, rural, and disadvantaged communities while supporting local economies.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests $5 billion over five years to help communities that are on the frontlines of PFAS contamination reduce PFAS in drinking water. This initial allotment of $2 billion to states and territories can be used to prioritize infrastructure and source water treatment for pollutants, like PFAS and other emerging contaminants, and to conduct water quality testing.
The EPA is also releasing the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant Implementation document. The implementation document provides states and communities with the information necessary to use this funding to address local water quality and public health challenges. These grants will enable communities to improve local water infrastructure and reduce emerging contaminants in drinking water by implementing solutions such as installing necessary treatment solutions.
These actions follow the EPA’s October 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap that includes the following items.
- Proposing to designate two PFAS as CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) hazardous substances. If finalized, this will be a critical step toward increasing transparency around releases of PFAS and holding polluters accountable for cleaning up their contamination.
- Releasing drinking water health advisories. Acting in accordance with the EPA’s mission to protect public health and keep communities and public health authorities informed when new science becomes available, the agency issued drinking water health advisories for four PFAS.
- Laying the foundation to enhance data on PFAS. This included an order under the EPA’s National PFAS Testing Strategy requiring companies to conduct PFAS testing, and nationwide sampling through the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule for 29 PFAS in public drinking water systems.
- Expanding the scientific understanding of PFAS. The Agency issued more than 30 scientific publications by the EPA researchers and released the EPA’s PFAS Thermal Treatment Database.
- Translating the latest science into EPA’s cross-agency PFAS efforts. This included updating the EPA’s contaminated site clean-up tables, developing new PFAS methods and conducting toxicity assessments, and issuing draft national recommended water quality criteria to protect aquatic life.
- Continuing engagement with the public. The EPA’s PFAS work was informed by public webinars, stakeholder meetings, congressional testimony, and engagement with EPA’s federal advisory committees.
In addition to this new grant, the EPA is also working to propose a PFAS National Primary Drinking Water Regulations (NPDWR) in the coming weeks. The draft proposed rule is currently undergoing interagency review and the EPA will issue the proposed rule for public comment when it clears the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
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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.