The U.S. EPA set final drinking water standards for multiple types of PFAS on Wednesday, marking a significant step in the agency’s ongoing efforts to regulate “forever chemicals” that will have implications for waste facility operators.

This comes the same week that the agency released its updated interim guidance on the destruction and disposal of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances via a range of technologies. That final step will become a more pressing issue as water treatment facilities and landfill operators alike look for ways to manage material that contains PFAS.

The agency’s final rule lays out the following limits:

• Enforceable maximum contaminant levels of 4 parts per trillion for PFOA and PFOS.
• Non-enforceable maximum contaminant level goal of 0 ppt for PFOA and PFOS, reflecting that “there is no level of exposure to these contaminants without risk of health impacts, including certain cancers.”
• Enforceable MCL, and a MCL goal, of 10 ppt for PFNA, PFHxS and HFPO-DA, the last of which are also known as “GenX Chemicals.”
• Additional limits for “any mixture of two or more of” PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX Chemicals.

The rule states that public water systems must complete initial monitoring for the chemicals within three years and inform the public of those results. If PFAS is found at levels that exceed the standards then operators must implement solutions within five years. The agency estimates this will affect 6% to 10% of the United States’ 66,000 public drinking water systems.

“This rule sets forth clear time frames for implementation. And we know it can be achieved using a range of available technologies and approaches that many water systems are using today,” said U.S. EPA Administrator Michael Regan during a Tuesday press call. “We are one huge step closer to finally shutting off the tap on forever chemicals once and for all."

Brenda Mallory, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, estimated during the call that the rule “will protect 100 million people from PFAS exposure” and “prevent tens of thousands of serious illnesses.” Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, said that the first-ever Safe Drinking Water Act standard for PFAS is a “landmark development in the history ... of environmental law and regulation.”

The EPA also announced $1 billion in new funding for testing and treatment at water facilities, which is part of $9 billion dedicated to addressing PFAS from 2021’s infrastructure law. An additional $12 billion from that law is available for addressing broader drinking water issues, which could include those related to PFAS.

Last year, the EPA signaled plans to set these limits in a proposed rule. The final rule differs in that it includes MCLs for additional categories of PFAS, among other changes. The rule was originally expected earlier this year, but received final clearance from the federal Office of Management and Budget in late March.

PFAS, commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” is a category of material used for decades in cookware, clothing, firefighting foam and other applications. While its use has been phased out in some cases, a wide swath of the population has been affected, and Regan said this can lead to “serious illnesses including cancer, liver damage and high cholesterol.”

Regulation has been looming for years but saw limited traction during the Trump administration. The issue has been a focus for the Biden administration, including EPA’s Regan, who has experience with PFAS-affected communities in his home state of North Carolina.

Drinking water standards are relevant to the waste industry, as many landfill operators send their leachate to water treatment facilities that will be affected by the standards. The standards could also be relevant to other facility categories.

The EPA received approximately 120,000 comments on this proposed rule, including many perspectives from waste industry professionals. 

While the standard centers on drinking water, companies such as GFL Environmental noted that “MCLs are used not just as standards at the point of water consumption but are also widely used to base groundwater and clean-up standards.”

Concerns about having adequate capacity to manage PFAS-containing waste were raised by groups including the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials, U.S. Conference of Mayors, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts and others.

Even before the standard was finalized, there were multiple instances of wastewater treatment facilities deciding not to accept leachate due to PFAS concerns or asking that it be pretreated. The EPA’s updated disposal guidance includes detailed research about which types of PFAS have been found in leachate, and multiple state environmental agencies have been doing related work.

That document noted “a landfill with elevated PFAS in its leachate may burden a WWTP’s ability to treat, remove, or destroy these compounds before discharge to the environment.” Issues with PFAS levels in the resulting biosolids were also noted.

The agency laid out a range of existing technologies that could be used to treat leachate — such as granular activated carbon, reverse osmosis and ion exchange systems, among others — which could also help water systems achieve the drinking water standard.

Such technologies are increasingly prevalent in the market, though still evolving. The EPA described the costs to manage leachate this way as “highly variable,” ranging from $10 to $150 per 1,000 gallons. Related capital costs can also range “from hundreds of thousands to several million dollars,” though multiple landfill companies have begun investing in on-site treatment options in recent years.

Another consideration, both for landfills that treat their own leachate and wastewater treatment facilities that handle various streams at their locations, is how to manage the spent materials that come from these treatment processes. The EPA’s updated guidance lays out a range of destruction and disposal options, and commentary in an initial version of the rule said “designating chemicals as hazardous substances under CERCLA generally should not result in limits ... for disposal of PFAS drinking water treatment residuals.”

While waste companies have increasingly described PFAS waste as a business opportunity in recent years, the EPA’s potential designation of certain types of the chemicals as hazardous substances under Superfund law could present a challenge. The industry continues to advocate for exemptions to such a policy.