New Jersey Sets First Binding State Limits for Perfluorinated Chemicals in Drinking Water

Regulators adopt strictest standards in the nation.

Photo: Groundwater in Salem County, New Jersey, has been contaminated by perfluorinated chemicals from industrial manufacturing facilities. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Besides lead, no contaminant in drinking water has provoked as loud a public outcry in the last two years in the United States as a class of chemicals known as perfluorinated compounds. New Jersey regulators are taking the strongest action to date on the man-made chemicals that are used in scores of household and industrial products.

The state will be the first to require utilities to test for two compounds and remove them from drinking water. The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection announced on November 1 that it accepted a recommendation from state water quality experts to set a legal limit for PFOA of 14 parts per trillion.

The announcement follows a proposal in August to allow drinking water to contain no more than 13 parts per trillion of PFNA, a related perfluorinated compound used at plastics manufacturing facilities in New Jersey and found in public water systems. Used in plastics production, firefighting foams, nonstick cookware, water-repelling clothing, food wrappers, and more, perfluorinated chemicals, […]

Full article: New Jersey Sets First Binding State Limits for Perfluorinated Chemicals in Drinking Water

More about: forever chemicals (PFAS, etc.), pollution, and public health

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