EPA Releases Drinking Water Health Advisories for PFAS by ACWA Staff Jun 20, 2022 Water News WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released four drinking water health advisories for PFAS. EPA issues health advisories to provide information and non-regulatory human health-based levels of protection from drinking water contaminants. Health advisories are not legally enforceable federal drinking water standards. EPA’s June 15 announcement included two final health advisories for hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid and its’ ammonium salt (known as GenX chemcials) at 10 parts per trillion (ppt) and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) at 2,000 ppt. EPA also updated the interim health advisories for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) at 0.004 ppt and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) at 0.02 ppt. The updated drinking water health advisories for PFOA and PFOS replace those EPA issued in 2016 – the previous advisory was set at 70 ppt for either chemical or a combination of both. The new health advisory levels for PFOA and PFOS are below levels at which current analytical methods can measure – the analytical detection limit for these two chemicals is 4 ppt. EPA is currently working to propose a National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for PFOA and PFOS that is expected in fall 2022. This begins the federal rulemaking process to set enforceable drinking water standards for these two contaminants. In tandem with the health advisories, EPA invited eligible entities to apply for the $1 billion in Bipartisan Infrastructure Law grant funding to address PFAS and emerging contaminants in drinking water. To receive this funding applicants should submit a letter of intent by Aug. 15. More information is available on EPA’s website. To provide the public with more information about these actions, EPA will host a webinar on June 23 at 9 a.m. You can register for the event at www.acwa.com/events. For questions regarding PFAS, please contact ACWA Federal Relations Representative Madeline Voitier.