More than 80% of US waterways contaminated by ‘forever chemicals’
Tom Perkins
“The results clearly show widespread PFAS contamination across the country and demonstrate that existing laws and regulations are inadequate for protecting us,” said Marc Yaggi, CEO of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit network that represents local “water keepers” who monitor watersheds throughout the country for pollution.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 12,000 chemicals often used to make products resist water, stain and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they don’t naturally break down, and are linked to cancer, liver problems, thyroid issues, birth defects, kidney disease, decreased immunity and other serious health problems.
Previous analyses have used municipal utility data to estimate that the chemicals are contaminating drinking water for over 200 million people, while another study found widespread contamination of groundwater drawn by private and municipal wells.
Lax regulation allows industrial users to discharge the chemicals into the environment largely unchecked, though some states and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are taking steps to begin tracking them. Landfills, airports, military bases, paper mills and wastewater treatment plants are among common sources.
The new study checked a range of surface waters, including canals, creeks and rivers. It found PFAS in 29 out of 34 states, and the 19 waterways in which it didn’t detect the compounds ran through largely undeveloped regions.
The study detected two of the most studied and dangerous compounds, PFOS and PFOA, at 70% of testing sites – more than any other of the 33 compounds it found.
The EPA lowered its health advisory limit for PFOA and PFOS to .004 parts per trillion (ppt) and .02 ppt, respectively, effectively finding that no level of exposure is safe. PFOS was detected in Maryland’s Piscataway Creek, a tributary that feeds into the Potomac River just south of Washington DC, at a level exceeding 1,300 ppt. The reading is nearly 70,000 times the EPA’s advisory level.
Regulators and utilities have been slow to address PFAS contamination in part because of costs. The EPA has proposed designating PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances, which could force industry to fund cleanups for those compounds, but not the other 33 found in the study, or thousands more that exist. That will leave it up to taxpayers to cover those cleanup costs.
“In other words, the public is going to be subsidizing the industrial polluters,” Yaggi said.
Tom Perkins
THE GUARDIAN
Tue, October 18, 2022
Most of America’s waterways are likely contaminated by toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, a new study conducted by US water keepers finds.
The Waterkeeper Alliance analysis found detectable PFAS levels in 95 out of 114, or 83%, of waterways tested across 34 states and the District of Columbia, and frequently at levels that exceed federal and state limits.
Tue, October 18, 2022
Most of America’s waterways are likely contaminated by toxic PFAS “forever chemicals”, a new study conducted by US water keepers finds.
The Waterkeeper Alliance analysis found detectable PFAS levels in 95 out of 114, or 83%, of waterways tested across 34 states and the District of Columbia, and frequently at levels that exceed federal and state limits.
“The results clearly show widespread PFAS contamination across the country and demonstrate that existing laws and regulations are inadequate for protecting us,” said Marc Yaggi, CEO of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit network that represents local “water keepers” who monitor watersheds throughout the country for pollution.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of about 12,000 chemicals often used to make products resist water, stain and heat. They are called “forever chemicals” because they don’t naturally break down, and are linked to cancer, liver problems, thyroid issues, birth defects, kidney disease, decreased immunity and other serious health problems.
Previous analyses have used municipal utility data to estimate that the chemicals are contaminating drinking water for over 200 million people, while another study found widespread contamination of groundwater drawn by private and municipal wells.
Lax regulation allows industrial users to discharge the chemicals into the environment largely unchecked, though some states and the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are taking steps to begin tracking them. Landfills, airports, military bases, paper mills and wastewater treatment plants are among common sources.
The new study checked a range of surface waters, including canals, creeks and rivers. It found PFAS in 29 out of 34 states, and the 19 waterways in which it didn’t detect the compounds ran through largely undeveloped regions.
The study detected two of the most studied and dangerous compounds, PFOS and PFOA, at 70% of testing sites – more than any other of the 33 compounds it found.
The EPA lowered its health advisory limit for PFOA and PFOS to .004 parts per trillion (ppt) and .02 ppt, respectively, effectively finding that no level of exposure is safe. PFOS was detected in Maryland’s Piscataway Creek, a tributary that feeds into the Potomac River just south of Washington DC, at a level exceeding 1,300 ppt. The reading is nearly 70,000 times the EPA’s advisory level.
Regulators and utilities have been slow to address PFAS contamination in part because of costs. The EPA has proposed designating PFOS and PFOA as hazardous substances, which could force industry to fund cleanups for those compounds, but not the other 33 found in the study, or thousands more that exist. That will leave it up to taxpayers to cover those cleanup costs.
“In other words, the public is going to be subsidizing the industrial polluters,” Yaggi said.
Sammy Fretwell
Tue, October 18, 2022
Toxic “forever chemicals’’ that are suspected of increasing cancer risks, causing liver damage and triggering kidney problems for those exposed to them are showing up in rivers and creeks that residents of South Carolina and other states rely on for drinking water.
A report released Tuesday by the national Waterkeeper Alliance identified the chemicals in at least six of the state’s river basins, including the Saluda-Congaree near Columbia, the Savannah near Augusta, the Catawba south of Charlotte and the Cooper near Charleston. Chemicals also were found in the Black-Sampit river system near Georgetown and the Waccamaw River watershed west of Myrtle Beach.
Data show that two of the most common chemicals exceeded a federal health advisory limit in every river or creek tested in South Carolina, according to the Waterkeeper Alliance study, billed as the first nationwide look of its kind about forever chemical pollution.
The Saluda River below the Lake Murray dam also registered one type of toxic forever chemical found at only two other places in the country.
Nationally, more than 80 percent of the 114 waterways sampled for the Waterkeeper Alliance report had at least one type of forever chemical in the water, the national report said. The chemicals were found in measurable concentrations in 29 states, the report found.
While much still needs to be learned about the effects of forever chemicals on public health, laboratory studies on animals have linked exposure to some of the most common forever chemicals to health problems in the animals. Cancer is among the risks as is damage to the liver and kidneys. The question is how much exposure does it take to get sick.
Tuesday’s report verifies data collected recently by state regulators in South Carolina. The S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control also found the contaminants in rivers across the state. The agency has not publicly released the data, but provided a snapshot of its survey of forever chemicals in water to a group of industries and environmental groups this past Friday.
DHEC also has previously found low levels in more than three dozen drinking water systems that get water from rivers or lakes.
Forever chemicals are also known as per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, a class of compounds used to repel water on clothing, coat non-stick frying pans, and fight fires at military bases. Considered important to the manufacture of an array of products, PFAS have been used in the United States since the 1940s.
The lower Saluda River near Columbia
The aptly named chemicals, largely unregulated by states and the federal government, pose a threat because they do not break down easily in the environment. They have become of increasing concern across the country as more is learned about their abundance and toxic effects.
“This data unequivocally demonstrates that this dangerous PFAS pollution is widespread in surface waters across the country, and that existing laws and regulations have been inadequate to protect public health and the environment from this under-appreciated threat,’’ the Waterkeeper Alliance report said.
Congaree Riverkeeper Bill Stangler and Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus said they are not surprised that forever chemicals were found in rivers. Stangler and Bonitatibus were among riverkeepers collecting samples for the analysis.
Stangler said the primary known threat is to drinking water. On the Saluda River, for instance, the sites where he found forever chemicals in water are upstream of large drinking water plants in Cayce and West Columbia.
“It is not something the average person who goes off a rope swing or goes tubing in the Saluda needs to worry about,’’ Stangler said. “The real general concern, I think, is ‘How much of this are you putting in your body by drinking it, or potentially consuming it in food, like fish.’’
Specific waterways tainted by PFAS include the Saluda, Catawba, Sampit and Savannah Rivers, as well as Bushy Park Reservoir near Charleston and Steritt Swamp near Conway. The study said 100 percent of the 11 samples taken in South Carolina registered PFAS.
Bonitatibus said action is necessary to prevent threats like the one that occurred in eastern North Carolina’s Cape Fear River.
A manufacturer of forever chemicals for years released the material into the river, fouling drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people. The facility has been sued over the discharges and fined heavily by regulators in North Carolina.
“What happened on the Cape Fear is an absolute tragedy,’ Bonitatibus said. “As we move forward we need to make sure we are identifying sources and removing them quickly.’’
Savannah Riverkeeper Tonya Bonitatibus stands along the river separating Georgia and South Carolina.
Some places around the country had higher levels of PFAS than South Carolina. Georgia, which shares the Savannah with South Carolina, had higher levels of PFAS concentrations. North Carolina, where some rivers run into South Carolina, also registered higher levels, the report found.
Two of the most common types of PFAS of concern – PFOA and PFOS – have been discontinued in the United States, but many related compounds are still being manufactured and used. PFOA and PFOS remain a threat to the environment.
In South Carolina, riverkeepers who worked on the Waterkeeper Alliance study found multiple places where PFOA and PFOS showed up at higher levels than the recently established federal health advisory standard.
The new health advisory level is between 0 and 1 part per trillion. Test results by riverkeepers found PFOS levels of 6.4 parts per trillion at one spot on the lower Saluda and 4.8 parts per trillion at another spot on the river, according to the Waterkeeper Alliance data.
DHEC’s data showed even higher levels of PFOA and PFOS on the Congaree, just downstream from the Saluda. Two readings topped 9 parts per trillion for PFOS, while results for PFOA exceeded 7 parts per trillion, according to a presentation DHEC gave to industry and environmental groups last week.
One type of PFAS, commonly called GenX, also was found in the lower Saluda River, according to test results from the Waterkeeper Alliance. The Saluda River was one of three rivers in the country where waterkeepers found GenX. The others were the Cape Fear in North Carolina and Tar Creek in Oklahoma, the report said.
GenX was developed to replace the toxic PFOA, but was later discovered to also be harmful to health.
“The surprise to me is that we saw GenX show up at all,’’ Stangler said.
Discharges of PFAS, including PFOS, PFOA and GenX, commonly are associated with textile plants, paper mills, landfills and military bases, one of which has polluted private drinking water wells in Sumter County. Textile mills, found throughout South Carolina, are a particular concern.
The Environmental Working Group says as many as 1,500 textile mills across the country could be releasing PFAS responsible for polluting drinking water.
On the Saluda, PFAS were found below Shaw Industries in Irmo and an abandoned site. Efforts to reach a spokesperson for Shaw were not successful Tuesday.
Finding PFAS in rivers is of concern to utilities that rely on the rivers to supply drinking water to the public.
Birds perch on a rock visible from Boyd Island, a new park at the confluence of the Broad and Saluda Rivers on Thursday March 24, 2022.
Clint Shealy, an assistant Columbia city manager who oversees the city’s drinking water utility, said the city has previously found PFAS in water coming into the plant and finished water that leaves the plant.
The big question, however, is how harmful microscopic levels of PFAS can be, he said.
The federal government recently sharply lowered the health advisory limit for the two most commonly known forever chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, from 70 parts per trillion to near zero.
But that standard is only an advisory limit, meaning the city’s drinking water remains in compliance with federal laws, he said.
The government is now weighing whether to establish an enforceable limit on how much of some PFAS materials should be allowed in drinking water. One question is whether the enforceable drinking water limit will be as low as the new advisory limit.
“A part per trillion is one drop of water in an Olympic sized swimming pool, roughly,’’ Shealy said. “So we went from 70 drops to a tiny fraction of one drop being within the health advisory level. That’s a real challenge for all utilities.’’
If the city had to treat the water for PFAS — which it does not currently — it could cost millions of dollars. That’s why it is important to find out where the pollution is coming from and stop it, he said.
“The way to combat this is to eliminate or minimize the compounds getting into our rivers,’’ he said. “Source water control is by far the best for our rivers and anything that might uptake those chemicals, like aquatic wildlife, but that also makes a positive impact on our drinking water. ‘’
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