The regulations apply to only six of the estimated 15,000 PFAS in existence. They include perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), two of the most-studied “forever chemicals,” as well as “GenX Chemicals,” which were developed as a replacement. Other chemicals, perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS) are also covered by the rules.

Public water systems will have the next three years to test for the chemicals and must implement solutions to reduce concentrations in finished drinking water within five years.

In Georgia, testing is already underway as part of the EPA requirements. So far, results reported to the EPA and in earlier testing conducted by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division show at least a dozen water systems in the state may need upgrades to meet the new standards. Those include Clayton County, Augusta, Columbus and several cities in Northwest Georgia, where PFAS chemicals were used for years by flooring manufacturers.

Some cities, like Rome, which had filed lawsuits against some of the largest PFAS manufacturers and secured roughly $279 million in settlements to address contamination in its water, already have plans in place to build advanced water treatment facilities.

The new rules were praised by many environmental groups.

“Today’s announcement of robust, health-protective legal limits on PFAS in tap water will finally give tens of millions of Americans the protection they should have had decades ago,” Ken Cook, the president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, said in a statement.

Pam Burnett, executive director of the Georgia Association of Water Professionals, said she wasn’t surprised by the new regulations. While her organization has not taken a position for or against the EPA rule, she said members were adamant that the cost of compliance should be the responsibility of the industries that produce the contaminants.

“Even though the utilities haven’t generated this hazardous waste, they’re having to deal with it,” Burnett said. “Please don’t put the cost on the back of the water systems and the public when the waste has been generated by these companies that knew what they were doing and benefitted from it.”

Burnett said water systems have options that work well for removing the chemicals, but upgrades are expensive and many systems don’t know what to do with the PFAS waste once it has been removed since it can’t be disposed of in the normal ways.

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) said that agency would be responsible under federal law for implementing the new standards. They pointed to an interactive map with test results on the EPD’s website.

The American Chemistry Council, which represents some companies that manufacture and use PFAS, criticized the RPA’s “overly conservative approach” in a statement.

“We strongly support the establishment of a science-based drinking water standard, but this rushed, unscientific approach is unacceptable when it comes to an issue as important as access to safe drinking water,” the group said.

New drinking water standards for PFAS

Here are the new limits the EPA announced Wednesday for certain “forever chemicals” in drinking water.

•PFOS and PFOA: Concentrations limited to 4.0 parts per trillion. That’s around the lowest level that testing can detect.

•PFNA, PFHxS, and “GenX Chemicals”: Concentrations limited to 10 parts per trillion.

•The new rules also set limits on concentrations of any combination of PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and “GenX Chemicals” in drinking water.

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