About PFAS
Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Overview
PFAS are a group of over 6,000 man-made chemicals that have been manufactured and used in home consumer products such as carpets, clothing, food packaging, and cookware since the 1940s. Two of these compounds—perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS)—have been the most extensively produced and studied, and there is evidence that exposure to elevated levels of PFAS can lead to adverse health outcomes in humans.
Water utilities are “passive receivers” of PFAS. They do not produce or manufacture PFAS. Instead, these chemicals are present in source waters, including the Potomac River, that are treated to produce drinking water.
Factsheets:
Regulating PFAS
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for setting regulatory limits under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. The EPA released final regulations for PFAS in drinking water for six PFAS compounds on April 10, 2024. These standards set a Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for the presence of these chemicals in drinking water systems across the country. Arlington County and our regional partners are reviewing these just released regulations, but preliminary review of the standards indicates that Arlington's water will comply with the new regulations.
Testing for PFAS Levels in Arlington's Water
PFAS testing is particularly costly and extremely complicated. This is because PFAS are present in clothing, cosmetics and toiletries, food packaging, and many more consumer products, and the testing limits are at such miniscule levels that “contamination” of the sample is very common. Additionally, the EPA only recently adopted standard testing practices and methods for PFAS compounds in drinking water. As a result, there is a limited catalog of PFAS testing results in drinking water nationally and in Arlington’s water system.
Arlington County has participated in several rounds of testing for PFAS in our drinking water. None of the test results have exceeded the newly released regulatory levels. See results for the 6 regulated compounds below.
All values reported in parts per trillion (ppt); ND = Not Detected
*PFBS is only regulated as part of a Hazard Index in combination with the other regulated PFAS contaminants. However, a level of 2000 would trigger a violation
Potential Water Utility Rate Increases to Comply with EPA Regulations
The EPA’s new requirements for PFAS direct drinking water utilities to remove the regulated chemicals from drinking water. Nationally, capital costs to address these standards were estimated by the American Water Works Association at nearly $50 billion, with an additional $4 billion in annual operating costs. These costs will be incurred primarily by affected water utility customers.
Arlington County is a wholesale customer of the Washington Aqueduct, and we will work with our partners (Fairfax Water and DC Water) and the Aqueduct to determine what, if any, treatment upgrades are required as a result of the new regulations.
The water utility industry has broadly advocated for the EPA to hold the companies that manufactured and profited from these chemicals responsible for the costs of removing them from the environment. While the EPA has implemented certain actions to control or restrict the production of certain PFAS compounds, the costs to address the PFAS compounds already ubiquitous in the environment will be borne almost exclusively by drinking water utilities, and subsequently, by the utility customers.
Arlington County's Comments to the EPA's Regulations on PFAS
In 2023, the EPA sought comments from the public as part of the rulemaking process. Arlington County, along with many utilities nationwide and all of our regional partners, submitted detailed comments. Read Arlington County's comments on the EPA's PFAS regulations(PDF, 620KB).
In summary, we expressed our support for the goal of minimizing PFAS exposure to the public. However, we raised several points of concern with the now adopted regulations, as detailed below:
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The regulatory level is lower than any other country, and radically lower than levels recommended or adopted by international agencies, including the World Health Organization, European Union, UK, Australia, and Japan.
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The timeline for compliance of three (3) years is infeasible for the thousands of water agencies that will have to undergo significant capital projects to achieve compliance.
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The Cost/Benefit analysis EPA relied upon to justify the extremely low compliance level was fundamentally flawed.
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The regulation places the significant cost burden for treatment solely on water utility customers in lieu of the companies that profited from the development and manufacture of these compounds.
Reducing Your Exposure to PFAS
- Support efforts to protect drinking water sources and keep PFAS out of water supplies.
- Read ingredient lists and choose products without PTFE or perfluoro- or polyfluor- in their names. Many companies are working to remove PFAS from their products; however, until the removal is complete, products including nonstick cookware (e.g., Teflon™), stain repellants (e.g., Scotchgard™), and water proofing (e.g., GORE-TEX™) may have PFAS. PFAS are also found in certain types of dental floss, nail polish, facial moisturizers, eye make-up, and more. Here are a few PFAS ingredients to avoid:
- polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE)
- perfluorononyl dimethicone
- perfluorodecalin
- C9-15 fluoroalcohol phosphate
- octafluoropentyl methacrylate
- perfluorohexane
- pentafluoropropane
- polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy difluoroethyl peg phosphate
- polyperfluoroethoxymethoxy peg-2 phosphate
- methyl perfluorobutyl ether
- perfluorononylethyl carboxydecyl Peg-10 dimethicone
- perfluorodimethylcyclohexane
- Cook with stainless steel, cast-iron, glass, or ceramics. Try not to use nonstick cookware.
- Look for coats, hats, and boots labeled “water-resistant.” They are less likely to have PFAS than waterproof products.
- Avoid ordering food in grease-resistant wrappers or containers.
- Avoid carpets and upholstery treated to be stain or water-resistant; decline stain treatment.
- Ask manufacturers if their products have PFAS. These chemicals are often not listed. However, given that many PFAS cannot be measured yet, products cannot be confirmed “PFAS-free.”
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