Regulating Drinking Water Contaminants: EPA PFAS Actions

Abstract

The 116th Congress has held hearings and passed legislation directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)and other departments and agencies to take a range of actions to address per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances(PFAS) in drinking water. EPA actions to respond to PFAS contamination under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA)have received significant attention. The National Defense Authorization Act for FY2020 (NDAA, P.L. 116-92)amended SDWA to increase PFAS monitoring and authorize appropriations for grants to address PFAS in public water supplies, among other PFAS provisions. Over the past decade, EPA has been evaluating several PFAS under SDWA to determine whether national drinking water regulations are warranted for one or more of these substances. On February 20, 2020, EPA announced preliminary decisions to develop SDWA regulations for the two most frequently detected PFAS, perfluorooctanoic acid(PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). This InFocus outlines EPA actions to address PFAS under SDWA and reviews related legislation.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Feb 26, 2020
Accession Number
AD1170122

Entities

People

  • Elena H. Humphreys
  • Mary Tiemann

Organizations

  • Library of Congress

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Digestive System Processes
  • Drinking Water
  • Environmental Pollutants
  • Environmental Protection
  • Governments
  • Hazardous Substances
  • Health
  • Law
  • Monitoring
  • National Governments
  • Public Health
  • Regulations
  • Standards
  • Test Methods
  • United States Government
  • Water Supplies

Fields of Study

  • Environmental science

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management
  • Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) of Proposed Air Force Base Actions.
  • Fire Suppression Systems Design.