Peoria, where PFAS have been detected as high as 12.9 parts per trillion, is the largest Illinois city that will need to improve its treatment processes, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of water testing conducted by the state during the past three years.

In the Chicago area, the state’s testing found PFAS levels exceeded the new federal standards in Cary, Channahon, Crest Hill, Fox Lake, Lake in the Hills, Marengo, Rockdale, South Elgin and Sugar Grove. All of those communities rely on wells; several have stopped using their most contaminated sources of drinking water.

Biden and Regan came into office pledging to make regulating PFAS a priority after years of promises but little action by the federal government.

Ken Cook, president of the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, called the Biden EPA’s action “easily the most consequential and difficult decision(s) to protect drinking water in the past 30 years.”

Cook’s group has studied PFAS and advocated for federal action since the early 2000s. He noted forever chemicals have been found in the bodies of nearly every American. Babies are born with PFAS in their blood.

Industry groups, as they almost always do, challenged the science EPA officials relied upon and raised the specter of skyrocketing water bills to comply with the agency’s standards.

The American Water Works Association, a utility trade group, urged the EPA last year to set a less stringent limit of 10 parts per trillion for the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals, which haven’t been manufactured in the United States for years but are still commonly found in drinking water.

One study commissioned by the association estimated that complying with EPA regulations will cost water utilities $3.8 billion a year, far more than the agency projects. Another questioned whether limiting PFAS in drinking water will protect public health.

On its website, the American Chemistry Council, a trade group for chemical manufacturers, accuses the EPA of overstating the non-cancer risks of forever chemicals and of failing to prove the benefits of limiting them in drinking water outweigh the costs.

Other industry groups fear their members could be sued for emitting forever chemicals into the air or discharging them into water.

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