The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released “A Year of Progress Under EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap,” which underscores key actions taken by the agency during the first year of implementing the PFAS Roadmap. The EPA is implementing a whole-of-agency approach, advancing science, and following the law to safeguard public health, protect the environment, and hold polluters accountable.
“The EPA continues to deliver on its promise to confront PFAS and protect the health of people and communities across the nation,” said Radhika Fox, Assistant Administrator for Water and Co-Chair of EPA’s Council on PFAS. “Today’s progress report highlights how much we have accomplished in the first year of implementing the PFAS Roadmap. The report also signals important actions the agency will take in the year to come, including our work to invest $10 billion from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law in solutions to protect communities from emerging contaminants like PFAS.”
Since the Roadmap’s release in October 2021, the EPA:
- Proposed to designate two PFAS as CERCLA hazardous substances. If finalized, this will be a critical step toward increasing transparency around releases of PFAS and holding polluters accountable for cleaning up their contamination.
- Released drinking water health advisories. Acting in accordance with the EPA’s mission to protect public health and keep communities and public health authorities informed when new science becomes available, the Agency issued drinking water health advisories for four PFAS.
- Laid the foundation for enhancing data on PFAS. This included an order under the EPA’s National PFAS Testing Strategy requiring companies to conduct PFAS testing, and nationwide sampling for 29 PFAS in drinking water starting in 2023.
- Began distributing $10 billion in funding to address emerging contaminants under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The EPA is making transformational investments in cleaning up PFAS and other emerging contaminants in water, especially in small or disadvantaged communities.
- Expanded the scientific understanding of PFAS. The Agency issued more than 30 scientific publications by EPA researchers and released the EPA’s PFAS Thermal Treatment Database.
- Translated the latest science into the EPA’s cross-agency PFAS efforts. This included updating EPA’s contaminated site cleanup tables, developing new PFAS methods and conducting toxicity assessments, and issuing draft national recommended water quality criteria to protect aquatic life.
- Continuing engagement with the public. The EPA’s PFAS work was informed by public webinars, stakeholder meetings, Congressional testimony, and engagement with EPA’s federal advisory committees.
This report demonstrates the EPA’s commitment to act on PFAS with transparency and accountability by keeping the public informed of the Agency’s progress. The progress report also outlines the actions the EPA plans to take in the upcoming year, including proposing national drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, moving forward with the regulatory process for CERCLA hazardous-substance designations, improving the availability of data on PFAS, and further restricting upstream PFAS discharges.