On December 19, 2024, the EPA announced draft national recommendations for health-based levels of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water bodies. The recommendations cover three PFAS:

 

• Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA)
• Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS)
• Perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS)

PFAS are a large class of thousands of synthetic chemicals that have been in use in the United States and around the world since the 1940s. PFAS’s ability to withstand heat and repel water and stains makes them useful in a wide variety of consumer, commercial, and industrial products, as well as in the manufacturing of other products and chemicals. This longevity is why PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals.”

“Current scientific research and available evidence have shown the potential for harmful human health effects after being exposed to some PFAS, even at very low levels,” states the draft recommendation. “PFAS' persistence and resistance to hydrolysis, photolysis, metabolism and microbial degradation raise additional concerns about human exposure and health effects.”

The draft national recommended Human Health Criteria (HHC) for the three PFAS are summarized as follows:

“Once final, these recommended criteria can be used by states and authorized Tribes to set water quality standards that help protect people from exposure through consuming water, fish and shellfish from inland and nearshore waterbodies that may be polluted by these PFAS. … Human health criteria are not regulatory requirements and do not, on their own, compel any action,” according to an EPA news release. “Rather they are information for entities, including state and Tribal regulators, to consider when making policy decisions that protect water quality.

“Human health criteria are developed under Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 304(a) and are based solely on the available data and scientific judgments about the impacts of pollutant levels in the water body (in this case PFAS) on people’s health. Human health criteria are based on the latest scientific knowledge and do not consider economic impacts or the technological feasibility of meeting the chemical concentrations in ambient water, though [CWA] tools that use human health criteria may incorporate such factors.”

The EPA seeks comments on these draft recommendations, which will be accepted on the Federal e-Rulemaking platform until February 24, 2025, under Docket # EPA-HQ-OW-2024-0454.

Once the comment period ends, the Agency will revise the criteria documents based on its consideration of the comments received and prepare final national recommended HHC for PFOA, PFOS, and PFBS.