What Is in Your Water GA?
The state of Georgia has a big problem with contaminated ground and drinking water. The culprits are Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) used directly by three military airbases and produced as a by-product by manufacturers, e.g. Mannington Commercial in Calhoun, Georgia. These same sources dump said toxic byproduct into rivers, such as the Conasauga river in Calhoun. A downstream source in Alabama tested more than 20x the federal limit of 70 parts per trillion (ppt). This could mean residential wells could be contaminated as well (de Amorim, O’Flaherty, Harbin, & White, 2019).
There have been a few bills introduced in 2019 and 2020 that address the PFAS chemical family, but have not had much support individually. None have made it past the senate. Instead they were fragmented and consolidated into a larger bill, The National Defense Authorization Act Fiscal Year 2020. Our very own Senator Perdue voted in favor of this bill as he’s the chair of the Senate Committee on Armed Services. However, this bill only addresses military aspects of PFAS release into the environment. It states that by late 2023 military aqueous film forming foams will be replaced with a fluoride free alternative. To date they do not have any alternatives known. It is expected, according to this bill, that in approximately 2 years they will have one developed, all systems and technology infrastructure ready for replacement for a new not yet known alternative, and have a solid timeline for implementation (that is no later than late 2024). The defense committee will also reserve the right to waive prohibition in special cases where the [still not known] alternative cannot be used (S. 1790 National Defense Authorization Act Fiscal Year 2020).
PFAS are used for their superior surfactant and fire retardancy in fire-fighting foams, Teflon, carpeting, etc. However, the very chemical properties that make them ideal for fire retardancy also make them very toxic for humans and the environment. The adverse health effects of PFAS have been linked to thyroid diseases, kidney and testicular cancers, low birth weight, and low vaccine efficiency (de Amorim, O’Flaherty, Harbin, & White, 2019). Despite these health concerns, the EPA has done little to nothing to draw a hard line for the regulation of PFAS. Non-enforceable federal health advisories have been put in place for only two PFAS types in an entire family of toxic chemicals (Dean et al., 2020).
There has been a push for greater government regulation in recent years culminating in the Safe Water Drinking Act. This legislation says the EPA will set and enforce drinking water standards in the entire U.S. This is usually delegated to individual states to enforce and possibly make more stringent. However, neither the national nor the state guidelines address PFAS limits in drinking water. There is also a “PFA Action Plan’’ in the works where the EPA would not only categorize PFAS as a hazardous substance but also would give the EPA additional authority to regulate limits and sources producing PFAS. The catch on this hopeful legislation is that approval will be on a very long time-line. To put it in perspective we can look to the EPA’s action plan on perchlorates, which is now eight years in the works from when it was first proposed (de Amorim, O’Flaherty, Harbin, & White, 2019).
These provisions are simply not enough. We do not have the time to hope and wait endlessly. Georgia residents deserve swift and precise action that addresses the PFAS’ contamination in ground and drinking water. We deserve a more immediate action plan to hold manufacturing companies to stringent PFAS limits that are well below the threshold for causing debilitating health effects. Our lives literally depend on Senators Loeffler and Perdue getting more involved in legislation efforts on PFAS.
Breen Riley, senior at Georgia Gwinnett College, School of Science and Technology.
Email: briley10@ggc.edu
Citations:
De Amorim, J., O’Flaherty, B., Harbin, N., & White, P. S. (2019). Journal of Science Policy & Governance. Hazardous Chemicals in Georgia’s Drinking Water, 14(2). doi:10.38126/jspg
Dean, W. S., Adejumo, H. A., Caiati, A., Garay, P. M., Harmata, A. S., Li, L., . . . Sundar, S. (2020). Journal of Science Policy & Governance. A Framework for Regulation of New and Existing PFAS by EPA, 16(1). doi:10.38126/jspg
S. 1790 National Defense Authorization Act Fiscal Year 2020. (n.d.). Retrieved October 05, 2020, from https://www.govtrack.us/
