US EPA and State PFAS Limits – Clarification

To clarify, PFAS compounds are unregulated contaminants at the present time.  Although the UCMR is not a regulatory program, it is a path way for the U.S. EPA among other pathways to regulate unregulated contaminants.

In the Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 47 / Tuesday, March 10, 2020 / Proposed Rules, “Announcement of Preliminary Regulatory Determinations for Contaminants on the Fourth Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List,” the U.S. EPA indicated the following in the Summary:

“A preliminary regulatory determination lays out and takes comment on EPA’s view about whether certain unregulated contaminants meet three statutory criteria. After EPA considers public comment, EPA makes a final determination. The unregulated contaminants included in a regulatory determination are chosen from the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL), which the SDWA requires the EPA to publish every five years. The EPA published the fourth CCL (CCL 4) in the Federal Register on November 17, 2016.

This document presents the preliminary regulatory determinations and supporting rationale for the following eight of the 109 contaminants listed on CCL 4: Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), 1,1-dichloroethane, acetochlor, methyl bromide (bromomethane), metolachlor, nitrobenzene, and Royal Demolition eXplosive (RDX). The Agency is making preliminary determinations to regulate two contaminants (i.e., PFOS and PFOA) and to not regulate six contaminants (i.e., 1,1-dichloroethane, acetochlor, methyl bromide, metolachlor, nitrobenzene, and RDX).”