FACT SHEET: Biden-⁠Harris Administration Takes Critical Action to Protect Communities from PFAS Pollution in Drinking Water

EPA Announces First-Ever National Standard to Address PFAS in Drinking Water, Delivers an Additional $1 Billion through President Biden’s Investing in America Agenda to Combat PFAS Pollution

President Biden believes every community has the right to clean, safe drinking water, free of pollutants that harm people’s health and wellbeing. That is why the President launched a comprehensive action plan and provided billions in funding to protect communities from toxic “forever chemicals” that are linked to a range of severe health problems, including cancers, liver and heart damage, and developmental impacts in children. Found in drinking water, soil, air, and our food supply, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) persist in the environment for long periods of time, posing a serious health threat across rural, suburban, and urban areas.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the first-ever national legally enforceable drinking water standard for PFAS, which will protect 100 million people from PFAS exposure, prevent tens of thousands of serious illnesses, and save lives. This action complements the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to combatting PFAS pollution and delivering clean water.

President Biden has secured historic levels of funding to meet this new standard. Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is also announcing an additional $1 billion through President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help every state and territory fund PFAS detection and treatment systems to meet the new standard. This funding is part of the $9 billion in dedicated funding through the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address PFAS and other emerging contaminants in drinking water – the largest-ever investment in tackling PFAS pollution. An additional $12 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law supports general drinking water investments, including PFAS treatment. The investments are part of the Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments flow to disadvantaged communities.

These actions will help tackle PFAS pollution that has devastated communities like Oakdale, outside of St. Paul, Minnesota, where decades of PFAS-containing waste dumped by a chemical plant has contaminated the community’s drinking water. In this area, cancer was found to be a far more likely cause of death in children than in neighboring areas. The funding announced today will build on funding from the President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is already helping communities address PFAS contamination, including a $33 million award for Tucson, Arizona to treat its PFAS-contaminated drinking water wells.

This funding also builds on President Biden’s action plan to address PFAS pollution, safeguard public health, and advance environmental justice – all while advancing the Biden Cancer Moonshot goal of cutting the cancer death rate by at least half by 2047 and preventing cancer before it starts by protecting communities from known risks associated with PFAS exposure.

As the first-ever Safe Drinking Water Act standard for PFAS – and the first for any new contaminants since 1996 – this rule sets health safeguards and will require public water systems to monitor and reduce the levels of PFAS in our nation’s drinking water, and notify the public of any exceedances of those levels. The rule sets drinking water limits for five individual PFAS, including the most frequently found PFOA and PFOS. Because PFAS can often be found together in mixtures, EPA is also setting a limit for any combination of four PFAS, including GenX Chemicals. This standard will reduce PFAS exposure in our drinking water to the lowest levels that are feasible for effective nationwide implementation.

Today’s announcements advance President Biden’s broader commitment to deliver clean water for every American. The President’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law invests over $50 billion to upgrade water infrastructure – the largest investment in clean water in American history. This includes a historic $15 billion to replace toxic lead pipes and protect children from brain damage, as part of President Biden’s goal of replacing every lead pipe in the country within a decade.

Recent Federal Actions to Protect Communities from PFAS

Under President Biden’s leadership, nearly two dozen federal agencies and offices have made systematic and substantive progress to safeguard public health and protect the environment from PFAS in drinking water and beyond. This work is coordinated by the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which leads the Interagency Policy Committee on PFAS. Other new actions the Biden-Harris Administration has advanced to combat PFAS pollution over the past year include:

Protecting Firefighters from PFAS: The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to protecting firefighters from the harmful effects of PFAS contained in fire suppressing agents and firefighter gear. The Department of Defense is offering PFAS blood tests to military firefighters. The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s U.S. Fire Administration is working to reduce PFAS exposure and promoting access to early cancer screenings and participation in the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer led by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health as part of President Biden’s mission to end cancer as we know it.

Reducing PFAS in Fire Suppressants: The Department of Defense (DoD) qualified three fluorine-free foams to replace fluorinated Aqueous Film Forming Foam for shore-based firefighting activities at military installations, which the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has authorized for civilian airports. The FAA is assisting airports to transition to these new foams, and funding foam testing systems for airports that prevent environmental discharge. These changes will reduce the release of PFAS in the environment and protect the health of firefighters and local communities.

Supporting Healthcare Providers: The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released the PFAS: Information for Clinicians resource guide. This information gives clinicians up-to-date resources and information they need to help patients with questions and concerns about PFAS exposure and health effects.

Phasing Out PFAS in Food Packaging: The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the completion of the voluntary market phase-out of PFAS used on paper and paperboard food packaging, eliminating the primary source of dietary exposure to PFAS. FDA can now also test for 30 PFAS in a variety of foods to further protect people from dietary PFAS exposure.

Testing for and Cleaning Up PFAS Pollution: EPA continues to take key actions to address PFAS. For example, EPA is gathering data on 29 PFAS in the nation’s drinking water systems has collaborated with DoD to develop a method to test for 40 PFAS in various media including biosolids, groundwater, and fish tissue. EPA also updated its interim PFAS disposal and destruction guidance and has released a new method to test for 30 volatile fluorine-containing compounds in air including potential products of incomplete combustion of PFAS. DoD recently identified 40 installations where interim cleanup actions to prevent further PFAS migration are underway or will start in FY2024. These actions will address PFAS in groundwater to protect public health and the environment.  

Reducing PFAS in Federal Procurement: EPA and the U.S. General Services Administration announced this week that custodial contracts for federal buildings will now only use cleaning products certified to ecolabels such as EPA’s Safer Choice and certain Green Seal standards, thereby avoiding products that contain intentionally added PFAS. This shift will protect the environment, federal custodial workers, other federal employees, and those visiting government buildings.

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