EPA Designates Forever Chemicals as Hazardous Substances

Synthetic human-made chemicals called PFAS have been rapidly infiltrating many of the world’s vital water supplies, damaging Earth’s environment in the process. These per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are incredibly difficult to break down, often lasting for thousands of years, even contaminating rainfall in certain regions. With increasing knowledge over the last few decades, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided to submit an official proposal to classify many of these chemicals as hazardous substances, influencing many additional federal protocols associated with their use and disposal. The decision also comes as new research has been exploring better ways for PFAS management and disposal. 

Many PFAS are common household products like cooking pans, oils, cleaning supplies, and abrasives. PFAS chemicals often produce coatings and products that can repel water, oil, heat, and grease. The chemicals are dangerous because they break down slowly and have been observed leaching into water and soil, leaving trace amounts detectable in the blood of humans and animals. 

Recent studies about the effects of exposure to PFAS suggest earlier assumptions were incredibly limited concerning the risks and knowledge of dangerous exposure levels. Prolonged exposure can result in reproductive complications, heart issues, respiratory disease, cancer, and immunosuppressant responses in communities. PFAS causes various complications as they primarily settle in the body’s blood, kidneys, and liver. These chemicals have been in the commercial market since the 1940s, and previous studies suggest they are present in more than 98 percent of the US population. 

The EPA’s submitted proposal will list at least two of these harmful PFAS as hazardous substances, encouraging effective waste management at facilities that handle these chemicals, with much more likely to be added later. The Federal Drug Administration and many chemical manufacturers have already voluntarily phased out the use of these chemicals, especially in commodities that deal directly with food products. However, the unfortunate reality still suggests more than 70 percent of imported products still contain remnants of older PFAS. Since these chemicals are so slow to break down, they easily contaminate products transported into air, dust, food, ground soil, and water.  

The EPA’s decision to begin managing PFAS use and disposal has had to navigate complicated relationships with the prominent chemical industry leaders, but at the neglect of community and environmental health. Critics of the EPA’s new proposal claim the action is a little too late, without any real repercussions or plans to mitigate the damages from the prolonged incorporation of these harmful chemicals in American communities. The other misfall of the EPA’s new proposal is that it fails to address any future solutions, only acknowledging current problems and only a few harmful PFAS. 

There is little acknowledgment in the proposal to develop plans for future mitigation as these hazardous chemicals continue to leach into the environment and are already waning vital resources of fresh water. Although the proposal may lack future mitigation efforts, chemical scientists have been researching how to dispose of these chemicals effectively, and there may still be some good news. 

Scientists have discovered that effective use of heat in contaminated water can initiate a chemical reaction to break down the strong PFAS bonds, removing them from the water without any remaining byproducts. This new information means water processing plants can effectively remove the harmful PFAS from water without releasing any byproducts into the environment, gradually diminishing their communal effects globally.

Navy’s Accidental Water Contamination Affects Over 400k Hawai’i Residents

Recent water quality tests at containment facilities near Pearl Harbor on Oahu in late November uncovered extreme levels of petroleum fuel contamination, forcing the shutdown of a major well for island residents. The petroleum-contaminated water was recorded with more than 350 times the safe level of possible hydrocarbon contaminants forcing the shutdown on December 3rd.

Hundreds of military families in the impacted area were affected with reported cases of mouth and body sores, pet sickness, stomach issues, and other attributable illnesses. Preliminary concerns were first warranted when residents reported their water smelling and tasting like gasoline, corroborating the recent illnesses. This shocking public health threat has forced the relocation of at least 3,000 Pearl Harbor-Hickam military families and posed risks to several day cares, schools, and hundreds of businesses. 

Investigations into the contamination suggested wells were originally contaminated after jet fuel spilled into access tunnels on November 20th. The spill was immediately cleaned and responded to, but not before contaminants could leach through to underground water wells. 

Residents are rightly upset due to the Navy's knowledge about the spill, potential health threats, and their inability to take necessary preventative steps until a week after the initial fuel accident. Governor David Ige described the contamination as a crisis, and state health officials have since suspended activities at the Red Hill well and ordered the Navy to clean up all impacted water systems. 

The Navy has taken full responsibility for the accident and plans to clean up the petroleum spill by completely flushing the Red Hill well with more than 25 million gallons of clean drinking water before assessing other potentially affected systems. Nevertheless, the event has put a bad taste in many Hawaii residents’ mouths and added extreme caution in regards to the cleanliness and safety of their water. 

Closing the major well near the state’s capital Honolulu has also elicited a response from the state department telling residents to conserve water to mitigate potential future shortages. The Halawa well directly contributes water to more than 400k residents and local businesses, and the cleaning process is expected to take several weeks.

Biden’s $1 Trillion Infrastructure Bill Could Be a Step Towards Improving America’s Aging Water Infrastructure and Protecting It From Climate Change

In September of 2021, Vox released an article exploring the drinking water crisis impacting millions of people across the country. In this article, Li Zhou performs an in-depth case study on the drinking water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, specifically. The resident that Zhou interviewed has been using bottled water for cooking and drinking for years due to the city’s unsafe and frequently interrupted drinking water service. This past winter, a sudden period of extreme cold caused pipes to burst and left approximately 40,000 Jackson residents without access to water for over two weeks. Many cities around the United States are facing similar consequences of poor water infrastructure. A report from McKinsey found that, on average, anywhere from 14-18% of total daily treated, potable drinking water in the United States is lost due to leaking, with some water systems reporting much higher loss rates of over 60%. 

Water infrastructure in the United States is extremely outdated, with the average US water-network pipe being at least 45 years old and some cast-iron pipes being over 100 years old. Aside from the aging water infrastructure, the increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events caused by climate change are expected to further strain drinking water supplies around the country and the world. Replacing water infrastructure is a massive but necessary project that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates will take $839 million/year to replace and monitor. However, the United States has historically been slow to adapt and invest in new technology to improve health, safety, and efficiency. 

Aside from improvements to the physical infrastructure, researchers have also argued that stronger enforcement of drinking water regulations is essential for improving the overall safety of drinking water in the United States. Many water systems around the country do not comply with requirements outlined in the Clean Water Act. However, they have been allowed to continue to operate due to inadequate enforcement of the Act. Another issue threatening drinking water supplies is the lack of regulations for discharging wastewater. Improper wastewater discharge can result in excessive amounts of phosphorus and nitrogen entering waterways which causes algae blooms.

More recently, the House passed Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes a total of $1 trillion in funding to repair aging infrastructure, fund new climate initiatives, expand access to high-speed internet service, and more. The bill has specifically carved out $48 billion to fund water-related repairs, such as replacing lead pipes and studying emerging water contaminants. Individual states have quite a bit of freedom in determining how such funding will be spent. Still, the passing of this bill is a step in a positive direction towards improving the nation’s drinking water infrastructure.