The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized new limits on forever chemicals known as PFAS earlier this week.
The EPA’s new Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for two types of PFAS – PFOS and PFOA is 4 parts per trillion (ppt).
Public water systems have five years to identify and address PFAS levels and bring them into compliance. Previously, the EPA’s 70 ppt Health Advisory Level (HAL) was not enforceable.
The new EPA limits are stricter than Delaware’s proposed MCLsof 14 ppt for PFOS and 21 ppt for PFOA – or a combined level of 17 ppt. They were developed by DNREC and DPH as required by the state’s 2021 Safe Drinking Water Act.
Co-sponsor of that legislation Sen. Stephanie Hansen says she isn’t sure yet if lawmakers will continue to push to enact state limits.
“I can’t say that there isn’t the political will, but I can tell you that if it’s going to pass, it’s going to take political will to get there. Sometimes we have it, Roe vs. Wade is a good example, sometimes maybe we don't have it. The battle for freshwater wetlands regulation is one of those open questions right now, and this could be another one.”
Either way, Division of Public Health Office of Drinking Water administrator Stephen Mann says Delaware is already in a good spot to meet the limits.
“This initial monitoring of our public water systems is really going to be telling us where these issues are. What are the problem spots that we have not addressed yet. Everything else that has popped up we have handled and are in the process of or have already resolved.”
Mann also notes what he calls “unprecedented” funding from the Biden administration for these efforts – Wednesday’s announcement comes with $1 billion in grants to help water systems and private well owners conduct initial testing and treatment. It's part of a $9 billion funding package for PFAS removal in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. And companies that made these chemicals have paid more than $10 billion from a nationwide class action lawsuit – Delaware was recently given an additional $25 million for a total of $75 million from a settlement with DuPont, Chemours, and Corteva.
Mann says the state’s Drinking Water Revolving Fund has at least $30 million from federal funds set aside for FY2024.
Deputy Director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network Tracey Carluccio says this is the first adoption of new MCL’s by the federal government since 1996, and DRN has been working on removing PFAS from the Delaware River Watershed states for the last 19 years.
“This monumental step by the EPA, while too late in coming for those who have already been harmed, is one that is essential towards a just goal of providing all people across our nation with reliably safe drinking water," she says.
Delaware Water Resources Center Director Jerry Kauffman notes there are hotspots that need addressing near New Castle and Dover airbases, along Route 9 in Claymont and in Seaford from a manufacturing facility.
“Levels have been high in PFAS, well above the four, even into the double digits and even above the former EPA target level of 70 in those areas," Kauffman says. "So at New Castle for instance, the water purveyors have had to install granular activated carbon filters. In my mind, as a water science and policy scientist, and as an environmental engineer as well, the ultimate solution is to drill deeper wells in these areas.”
Kauffman says about three-quarters of Delaware's drinking water comes from surface water streams – the Brandywine, Red Clay and White Clay — and the other quarter is well water.
“Fortunately, mother nature has a way of protecting us from ourselves, these confined wells, confined aquifers, are protected by clay layers, so it means drilling deeper ultimately," he says.
