More bad news regarding the forever chemicals. Adding to the situation is the fact that the so called “safe limits” may not be safe at all, since we do not know the long term consequences of these chemicals on human health.
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Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
‘Forever chemicals’ become more common .
Records show 100 systems join PFAS list
Drinking water for at least 1 of every 7 Americans – about 49.5 million people – contains unsafe levels of “forever chemicals,” according to new test results the Environmental Protection Agency published in November.
Since the EPA last updated these records in August, more than 100 additional public drinking water systems have reported yearly averages of PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, that exceed new limits the EPA approved in 2024. USA TODAY’s analysis of the records shows water utilities in Anaheim and San Jose, California, and Brownsville, Texas, have joined the 944 systems across the country that have recently failed to meet the new EPA standards.
There are thousands of PFAS chemicals, which are nearly indestructible because they were engineered to repel liquids and heat. Scientists say they can accumulate in the human body and can increase the risk of certain cancers and other health problems when ingested.
The EPA had limited six types of PFAS in drinking water under the Biden administration, but it announced it would rescind all but two of those limits in May. The count of municipalities not meeting these two limits is likely to grow as the EPA wraps up a three-year initiative that required all public utilities serving at least a few thousand customers to check for forever chemicals in their drinking water.
What’s new in this updated EPA data?
Drinking water samples collected in Anaheim, California, between November 2024 and May 2025 show one city well averaged 17 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOS and 8 ppt for PFOA, respectively four times and two times over both chemicals’ limit of 4 ppt.
Samples that the Brownsville Public Utilities Board in Texas collected from two water treatment plants from July 2024 through April 2025 averaged slightly over the PFOS limit, while the California Water Service Company in San Jose reported one well whose yearly average of PFOS measured double the limit from January through July 2025.
Such places as these whose measurements continue to average over the PFAS limits will need to locate other sources of drinking water for their customers or install filtration systems within the next few years. The deadline was set for 2029, but the EPA has announced it will extend that deadline….
“What we are encountering is believed to be remnant traces from consumer products and factories, military bases and other industrial uses all around us in southern California,” the city wrote on its website.
Anaheim is spending $200 million to outfit several of its groundwater wells with ion exchange filtration – a technique that uses resin beads to snare and remove particles from water, according to the city website. Construction is slated to finish in 2027.
In Brownsville, the Public Utilities Board is collecting more data and evaluating next steps, spokesperson Alexa Perez said.
”This additional data will help us evaluate potential treatment options, operational adjustments, and any future infrastructure needs,” Perez wrote by email, noting that they would seek state or federal grants if necessary. “We do not yet know if there would be an increase in rates to our customers.”
What’s happening with the lawsuit challenging these PFAS limits?
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 made about $1 billion in EPA grants available each year for disadvantaged and small communities to mitigate “emerging contaminants” like PFAS, but as Anaheim’s project shows, these projects can be expensive.
Some water utilities have told USA TODAY they’ve had to raise water rates to meet the new EPA standards, which many utilities argue isn’t fair since manufacturers created the pollution.
That’s part of the reason industry groups representing water utilities sued the EPA in 2024, claiming the agency did not follow proper procedures when approving the new PFAS limits. The lawsuit was put on hold as the Trump administration took over the agency at the start of 2025, but in September, the EPA formally asked the court to invalidate four PFAS limits it approved in 2024.
“EPA has now determined that its decision … was inconsistent with the statute, and EPA no longer seeks to defend the relevant portions of the rule,” EPA lawyers wrote in a Sept. 11 legal filing.
Two weeks later, advocates campaigning to keep the four PFAS standards that the EPA wants to abandon have submitted a legal filing. They allege vacating these limits would risk the health of millions of Americans and disrupt water utilities that have already invested millions to comply with them.
