EPA releases action plan to address drinking water contamination News
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EPA releases action plan to address drinking water contamination

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday published an action plan to reduce manmade Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) from drinking water.

The action plan lays out various short term and long term actions and proposals, including increased research and efforts to clean-up and prevent future contamination. One of the priorities for the EPA is the process of listing and determining the Maximum Contaminant Level of PFOA and PFOS, two prevalent types of PFAS. This process is part of the Safe Drinking Water Act and will help to increase regulations over the release of these substances in air, water and soil. The agency is also looking into a broader hazardous categorization for PFAS and is considering adding them to the Toxics Release Inventory, which would increase reporting by industrial and federal facilities.

The action plan is a response to public pressure that has mounted due to research that has shown a correlation with PFAS exposure and various diseases. Because PFAS are ubiquitous and slow to breakdown, they remain an ongoing problem to public health and the environment.

Criticism of the EPA’s plan is that it lacks urgency. Its release is nearly a year later than ex-Administrator Scott Pruitt’s announcement of measures to eradicate PFAS from drinking water, and it avoids imposing deadlines for regulation. One of these notable delays is the nationwide monitoring of PFAS levels in drinking water, which remains a proposal set to begin in 2020.

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