New EPA PFOA Advisory: More Communities Have Dangerous Drinking Water

"The EPA announced new drinking water health advisory levels today for the industrial chemicals PFOA and PFOS. The new levels — .07 parts per billion (ppb) for both chemicals — are significantly lower than standards the agency issued in 2009, which were .4 ppb for PFOA and .2 ppb for PFOS. In areas where both PFOA and PFOS are present, the advisory suggests a maximum combined level of .07 ppb. While the old levels were calculated based on the assumption that people were drinking the cohttp://www.reuters.com/article/us-canada-agriculture-salmon-idUSKCN0YA2K... only for weeks or months, the new standards assume lifetime exposure and reflect more recent research.

The new federal standards may unify what has been an inconsistent official response to the presence of these perfluorinated chemicals, or PFCs, in drinking water. They will also instantaneously create official water contamination crises in dozens of cities and towns across the country.

According to the EPA’s most recent data on unregulated drinking water contaminants, released in January, 14 drinking water systems around the country reported levels of PFOA that exceed the new federal threshold, while 40 reported PFOS above the new cutoff. In all, water systems in 18 states, as well as in Guam, are contaminated."

Sharon Lerner reports for The Intercept May 19, 2016.

SEE ALSO:

"EPA Issues Health Advisory For Long-Term PFOA Exposure" (Manchester Union Leader)