Understanding PFAS: For Healthy Drinking Water and Fire Safety

Transcription

1 Understanding PFAS: For Healthy Drinking Water and Fire Safety Arlene Blum, PhD and Tom Bruton, PhD Green Science Policy Institute 2/22/19 More info:

2 Education Research Policy & Purchasing Change Retreats 2

3 Six Classes Videos 3

4 Highly Fluorinated Chemicals PFOA or C8 (C8) Carbon-Fluorine bond strength: Leads to oil and water repellency Forever chemicals -- last for geologic time! Courtesy: Dr. Jennifer Field 4

5 Common Uses 5

6 Pathways to the Environment From California DTSC: Product-Chemical Profile for PFAS in Carpets and Rugs 6

7 PFASs exposure is a health concern Detectable serum PFASs Non-detect Exposure linked to health risks: Cancer, elevated cholesterol, obesity, immune suppression, and endocrine disruption Courtesy, Cindy Hu, Harvard University (Ref: Lewis et al., 2015; Grandjean et al., 2012; Braun et al., 2016; Barry et al., 2013) 7

8 EPA Lifetime Health Advisory Level of 70 ng/l PFOA + PFOS Hu et al., Environ. Sci. Technol. Lett

9 DuPont PFOA: 5000 Drinking Water Health Guidelines (parts per trillion) DuPont PFOA: 1000 U.S. EPA PFOA: 400 PFOS: 200 U.S. EPA PFOA & PFOS: 70 New Jersey PFOA: 14 New York PFOA: 10 PFOS: 10 9

10 Percent of water systems with detectable PFOA: EPA estimate from UCMR3 data: 1% Test lab estimate : up to 24% 30 states plus 3 territories with >2% of PWS with PFAS detection at 5 ng/l MRLs (217 PWS - >30% of PWS) Courtesy of Andy Eaton PhD, Eurofins Eaton Analytical 10

11 Michigan Wolverine treated leather with Scotchguard (PFOS) Leather scrap dumped Sludge applied to fields PFOA + PFOS level up to 58,000 ppt 842 times EPA health advisory level! 11

12 New Mexico Cannon Air Force Base Firefighting foam entered groundwater PFAS migrated from base to dairy wells to cows to milk Farmer: I can t sell the milk. I can t sell beef. I can t sell the cows. I can t sell crops on my property. PFOS level up to 12,000 ppt 171 times EPA health advisory level! 12

13 PFAS 4730 PFAS in commerce (OECD, 2018) 240 PFAS in fire-fighting foam and contaminated ground water 14 PFAS measured by EPA Method PFAS included in UCMR3 2 PFAS with federal Health Advisories 13

14 Is C6 a safer substitute for C8? Concerns: Extreme persistence Bioaccumulation Toxicity Decabromodiphenyl ethane Concerns: Extreme persistence 1 Bioaccumulation in plants 4-5 Suspected toxicity 1 More mobile 6 Remediation more difficult

15 Water Treatment Costs: North Carolina Chemours Cape Fear Public Utility Authority activated carbon filtration plant: - $46M to build - $2.7M to operate each year Brunswick County: reverse osmosis filtration for 25,000 customers: - $99M to build - $2.9M to operate Wilmington Star News, May 9 th and 10 th,

16 PFAS are Problematic & Difficult to Clean Up Prevention is Preferable! 16

17 EPA s PFAS Action Plan Drinking water Cleanup Toxics Monitoring Research Enforcement Risk Communication 17

18 EPA Priority Actions (May 2018) 1. EPA will initiate steps to evaluate the need for a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFOA and PFOS 2. EPA is beginning the necessary steps to propose designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances through one of the available statutory mechanisms 3. EPA is currently developing groundwater cleanup recommendations for PFOA and PFOS at contaminated sites and will complete this task by fall of this year [2018] 4. EPA is taking action in close collaboration with our federal and state partners to develop toxicity values for GenX and PFBS by this summer [2018] 18

19 EPA Priority Actions (May 2018) 1. EPA will initiate steps to evaluate the need for a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFOA and PFOS EPA PFAS Action Plan (Feb 2019) 1. EPA will propose a regulatory determination for PFOA and PFOS in 2019 for public comment. 19

20 EPA Priority Actions (May 2018) 2. EPA is beginning the necessary steps to propose designating PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances through one of the available statutory mechanisms EPA PFAS Action Plan (Feb 2019) 2. The EPA has initiated the regulatory development process for listing PFOA and PFOS as CERCLA hazardous substances. 20

21 EPA Priority Actions (May 2018) 3. EPA is currently developing groundwater cleanup recommendations for PFOA and PFOS at contaminated sites and will complete this task by fall of this year [2018] EPA PFAS Action Plan (Feb 2019) 3. The EPA is developing interim recommendations for addressing groundwater contamination by PFOA and PFOS. 21

22 EPA Priority Actions (May 2018) 4. EPA is taking action in close collaboration with our federal and state partners to develop toxicity values for GenX and PFBS by this summer [2018] EPA PFAS Action Plan (Feb 2019) 4. The EPA made draft toxicity assessments for GenX chemicals and PFBS available for public comment in 2018 and expects to issue final toxicity assessments for these two compounds in

23 EPA s PFAS Action Plan 23

24 Protect Drinking Water from PFAS Act of 2019 Rep. Boyle and Sen. Gillibrand preparing to introduce Would require EPA to promulgate MCLs for PFOA and PFOS within one year. 24

25 PFAS Action Act H.R. 535, filed 1/14/19 Sponsor: Rep. Dingell Cosponsors: Reps. Upton, Kildee, Wild, Khanna, Delgado & Pocan Would require EPA to designate all PFAS as hazardous substances under CERCLA (the Superfund law) within one year. 25

26 Other Updates 26

27 FAA: Airports must contain to use PFAScontaining firefighting foam, for now 1/17/19 Part 139 Cert Alert No Subject: Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) Testing at Certificated Part 139 Airports Recommends new systems for testing firefighting equipment without discharging foams to the environment fluorine-free foams on the market do not match the performance of their fluorinated counterparts [and] are not able to provide the same level of fire suppression as MILSpec approved firefighting foams FAA & other organizations continue to conduct research 27

28 Fluorine-Free Foams 28

29 Import of PFAS waste from Netherlands to North Carolina Chemours transporting GenX waste to NC to avoid strict Dutch disposal rules Was formerly shipped to Italy, but receiving company went bankrupt due to contamination EPA letter: portions of waste sent for incineration in AR and deep well injection in TX Chemours and EPA: substance is not hazardous under the law 29

30 ATSDR Announces Eight Sites for PFAS Exposure Study Berkeley County, WV, near Shepherd Field ANGB El Paso County, CO, near Peterson AFB Fairbanks North Star Borough, AK, near Eielson AFB Hampden County, MA, near Barnes ANGB Lubbock County, TX, near former Reese AFB Orange County, NY, near Stewart ANGB New Castle County, DE, near New Castle ANGB Spokane County, WA, near Fairchild AFB E&E News, Feb. 21,

31 Green Science Policy Hill visit PFAS 101 Briefings Friday March 15, 2019 Senate: SR :30 am - noon House: HC-303 Time TBD Contact Anna@GreenSciencePolicy.org to RSVP 31

32 With Reduced Use of Highly Fluorinated Chemicals We can have a healthier world