Dive Brief:
- The U.S. EPA has proposed a new rule that would formally rescind Safe Drinking Water Act regulations for four types of PFAS that were set under the Biden Administration. The EPA first announced its intention to roll back the regulations a year ago.
- The rule would rescind limits for four types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the drinking water regulations: PFHxS, PFNA, PFBS and HFPO-DA, commonly known as GenX. The agency plans to continue regulating PFOA and PFOS, but will delay enforcement to 2029.
- EPA also announced a proposed rule that would allow certain eligible water utilites to apply for a two-year compliance delay on meeting drinking water standards for PFOS and PFOA, giving them until 2031 if they meet certain requirements.
Dive Insight:
The EPA under the Trump administration has long said the original PFAS drinking water regulation process was “rushed” and did not offer enough time for public comment meet other necessary regulatory requirements under the law, leaving it open to being challenged in court. The previous rule, set in 2024, had already set legally enforceable limits for those chemicals in drinking water.
The newly proposed process would “follow the law, follow the science” while also offering what the agency says is a more practical timeline for water utilities to comply, said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin at a Monday event announcing the rulemaking.
“A drinking water standard only protects Americans if it can actually be implemented by the nation's water systems and survive legal challenge,” the agency added in the rule proposal announcement.
These drinking water regulations are relevant to waste facility operators because of how they might affect leachate management and groundwater monitoring efforts, as well as how these waste facilities interact with wastewater treatment facilities. The regulations also represent business opportunities for waste companies and PFAS remediation technology providers.
The proposed PFAS rescission rule is likely the first step in restarting a regulatiory review process for the four named PFAS. If the rescission is finalized, the EPA says it plans to reevaluate the four types of PFAS for possible regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.
Zeldin said the rescission plan for the four PFAS is “not because they don’t matter. They might warrant strict standards, possibly even stricter than what was previously regulated.” But the EPA announcement noted it “cannot pre-determine the outcome of the rulemaking.”
The EPA’s other rulemaking announcement seeks to extend compliance deadlines for PFOA and PFOS for certain eligible water utilities, saying it would give operators more time to develop plans for complying with maximum contaminant levels. Some water utilities have cited cost, training, sampling or infrastructure upgrade concerns, the agency said. Systems that do not opt in would still need to meet the original 2029 compliance deadline.
“This design ensures that systems prepared to meet 2029 are not slowed down, while systems facing legitimate implementation hurdles have a transparent, accountable path to additional time,” EPA said in the announcement.
On Monday, Zeldin noted the agency had “serious resources” to help fund compliance efforts, including $1 billion in grants under the Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant. “That brings the total available under that program to $5 billion over five years,” he said.
The agency said allowing some drinking water systems more time to comply could also help them save money and give PFAS remediation businesses time to continue honing innovations.
“Continued federal investment, paired with a growing market for treatment technologies, is already driving costs down, better informing water utilities about what works, and expanding the toolkit available to remove PFAS in its various forms,” the agency said in the announcement.
At the EPA announcement on Monday, agency officials welcomed a panel of PFAS remediation businesses to talk about their work and how it aligns with the agency’s PFAS destruction and disposal guidance. They included Veolia North America, Claros Technologies, Cyclopure, Desotec and Cetco.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also spoke at the event, applauding the rulemaking and grant funding announcements as critical steps toward protecting the public from the negative health effects of PFAS. He described Zeldin as “completely committed” to the process and pushed back against the characterization of the new rulemaking as a “rollback,” saying both EPA and HHS were researching “what these chemicals are doing to human health, and how it can reduce exposures and move forward.”
But some environmental groups said the rulemaking process unnecessarily rolls back rules meant to keep the public safe, and argued that delaying compliance could harm both human health and the environment.
“Communities dealing with PFAS contamination need federal support, including funding for treatment and destruction technologies. But that support cannot be used to obscure the central problem with today’s announcement: EPA is delaying enforceable safeguards and reopening protections for dangerous forever chemicals,” Betsy Southerland, former director of the Office of Science & Technology in EPA’s Office of Water, said in a statement.
Ken Cook, president and co-founder of the Environmental Working Group, added in a statement that “you cannot make America healthy again while allowing toxic PFAS to flow freely from our taps.” He said the EPA under the Trump administration is “caving to chemical industry lobbyists and water utility pressure – and in doing so it is condemning millions of Americans to drink contaminated water for years to come.”
The two proposed rules will now go through a 60-day public comment period. The EPA will hold a public hearing on July 7.
