COLORADO, USA — As the Environmental Protection Agency begins to set federal limits for the first time on forever chemicals in drinking water, dozens of public water systems in Colorado don’t meet the new standards.
The EPA made the announcement Wednesday and the first national drinking water limit on PFAs – or perfluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances.
Known as “forever chemicals,” PFAs can be found in everyday products and don’t break down in the environment. Health experts have linked PFAs to serious health issues.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said the state has been proactively sampling and monitoring public water systems for PFAs and will implement the new EPA limits leading up to the 2029 compliance deadline.
CDPHE said:
- The state regulates 2,091 public water systems across Colorado.
- There are 900 community water systems and non-transient, non-community water systems that must comply with new PFAs rules.
- The state has assisted more than 600 systems with PFAs testing.
Under the new PFAs limits released by the EPA on April 10, CDPHE said about 30 public water systems have shown prior test results above the new drinking water limits. The list includes systems across Colorado, including some in the metro area counties of Jefferson, Adams, Douglas, and Boulder.
“CDPHE has been working directly with these public water systems to assess the situation, inform the public, and reduce PFAS exposure. In cases where system operational modifications, point-of-use filtration options, and reducing PFAS levels with interim treatment options could be implemented (ex: schools, etc) these strategies have been implemented already,” said John Michael, CPDHE spokesperson for the Water Quality Control Division, in an email.
CDPHE’s list also includes public water systems where prior tests showed PFAs levels below the minimum reporting level, or which have not been tested by the state in recent years.
“People need to be aware that their risk associated with drinking PFAs in drinking water is still likely quite low, given we don’t have those high, high levels of contamination. The EPA standard is designed to really take that down to be most protective of public health,” said Ned Calonge, associate dean for public health practice, and a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health.
And while public water systems are undergoing testing, Calonge said individuals can also install water filters in their homes to filter out PFAs chemicals.
“People can take steps if they have concerns and decrease their exposures now. One of the exposures, and only one, is drinking water. But we know that PFAs have been used in multiple other consumer products over a long period of time,” he said. “And so making sure that you looked at all your other potential exposure and limit those as well, is something Coloradans can do to lower their own current levels an keep their levels from going up over time.”
“I would say Colorado is ahead in that, we’ve been studying PFAs in our water supply for some time. The state has kind of figured out where the high levels are and have provided information to individuals about that,” he said.
CDPHE offered this list of ways the state has been working to protect Coloradans from PFAs since 2016:
- Coordinated sampling to assess levels of PFAS in drinking water, surface water, private wells, industrial and wastewater discharges, biosolids, and fish tissue.
- So far, we have assisted more than 600 public water systems and owners of more than 100 private wells in sampling for PFAS.
- Developed a grant program and assisted almost 30 impacted water systems with pilot testing or installing water treatment, providing emergency assistance for affected communities, and paying for water systems and private well owners to sample their water for PFAS.
- Developed and implemented regulations, policies, and legislation to 1) limit PFAS entering state waters from discharges, 2) tested and reduced levels of PFAS in biosolids, 3) allow for investigation and cleanup of PFAS releases at facilities under a hazardous waste permit or corrective action order, and 4) prevented releases to the environment from firefighting foam containing PFAS.
- Provided technical and financial support for biosolids and wastewater discharge sampling for PFAS.
- Worked directly and coordinated with local county health departments (ex: Adams, Boulder, and Park counties) to test and respond to PFAS-impacted private wells.
- Worked with the Department of Defense to implement measures to protect from exposure to impacted drinking water sources and to identify and investigate PFAS sources at federal facilities.
- Developed numerous educational materials to help people understand and act on potential PFAS exposure.
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