Emerging Contaminants & Problem Water
Andy Eaton, PhD, BCES
Technical Director Emeritus/Vice President
Eurofins Eaton Analytical, LLC
Monrovia, California
Widespread monitoring of perfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in potable water began with the EPA Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) from 2013-2015, but this program had relatively high reporting limits so relatively infrequent occurrence of these compounds was reported. In 2016, USEPA established Health Advisory Limits (HALs) for PFOS and PFOA. Since that time, a number of states have established guidelines or MCLs for multiple PFAS compounds, in many cases substantially lower than the EPA HALs. Eurofins was responsible for generating more than 30% of the national PFAS data under the UCMR program and was able to mine that data at lower reporting limits to demonstrate that the occurrence of PFAS in drinking water is more widespread than the UCMR database implies. This is consistent with observations from monitoring programs conducted by individual states (e.g. MI, NH, CO) since the UCMR program finished. This session will review those various data sets and also the standards that have been set by numerous states.