Auburn tracking proposed EPA regulations of 'forever chemicals'

Lake Ogletree provided roughly 44 percent of the city of Auburn's drinking water in 2022

The city of Auburn is tracking proposed regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency of "forever chemicals" and have started making preparations in the event they are ultimately approved.

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences describes PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) as a "large, complex group of synthetic chemicals" and notes that they have been used in a wide variety of consumer products since the 1940s, including in items like nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, stain-resistant carpets and firefighting foam. The use of PFAS in products has become so ubiquitous that the forever chemicals can be found in people's blood and urine, due, in part, to the effects of bioaccumulation, where people take in more of the chemicals than they excrete.

According to the NIEHS, research "reveals possible links between human exposures to PFAS and adverse health outcomes," including altered metabolism, fertility, reduced fetal growth and increased risk of being overweight or obese, increased risk of some cancers, and a reduced ability of the immune system to fight infections.

In March, the EPA proposed standards that would set legally enforceable maximum contaminant levels (MCL) for six PFAS in drinking water nationwide. The proposed regulations would set the MCL for PFOA and PFOS in drinking water at 4.0 parts per trillion, up from a guideline of 70 parts per trillion set in 2016.

The proposed regulations would also establish MCLs for PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and HFPO-DA, which are commonly referred to as GenX chemicals. The public comment period for the proposed regulations ended on May 30.

This table shows the results of various tests conducted for PFAS compounds in Auburn's drinking water in 2022

Recently, Auburn's Water Works Board released its 2022 Consumer Confidence Report, which included a section detailing the detected levels of PFAS in the city's drinking water. According to the report, the highest detected levels of PFOA and PFOS were 13 and 7.19 parts per trillion, respectively, for the two compounds, above the proposed MCL but well below the current guideline's maximum of 70 parts per trillion. The other four PFAS compounds included in the EPA's proposed regulations were below 4 parts per trillion, according to the city's report.

The PFAS compounds were detected in Auburn's Well No. 3, a groundwater supply well that came online in 2012, is located in south Auburn off of Highway 29 and provided about 14 percent of the city's drinking water in 2022, according to Water Resource Management Director Eric Carson, who added that PFAS weren't detected from samples of Auburn's other two primary water sources, Lake Ogletree, which provided about 44 percent of the city's drinking water in 2022, and Well No. 4, which recently came online and provided about 27 percent. The city also purchases about 14 percent of Auburn's water from Opelika Utilities, primarily due to pressure issues servicing north Auburn. For 2022, Opelika Utilities reported a maximum level of 7.2 and 11 parts per trillion for PFOS and PFOA, respectively, according to data compiled by the Environmental Working Group.

"It's slightly over their proposed MCL; it's just a proposed MCL right now. We definitely have our eye on that. But we do have plans that if it is passed, we have budgeted money for a treatment system to take that out," said Carson of Auburn's Well No. 3, adding that the city has budgeted about $5 million and that the funds will roll over to the next fiscal cycle if approval of the proposed EPA regulations is delayed or postponed. A decision by the EPA is not expected until the end of the year or early in 2024.

"Quite frankly, at those low concentrations, I don't know where it's coming from," said Carson of the PFAS detected in Well No. 3, noting that water drawn nearby by the Loachapoka Water Authority also contains PFAS. The LWA reported PFOA of 11 parts per trillion between years 2020-2022. "They've been making this stuff since the '40s. It could have been anything. It could have been from a single truck accident 40 years ago or where they used firefighting foam and it just seeped into the groundwater table there. It could be from anything, and since it takes thousands of years for this stuff to break down it could still be there.

"They want to regulate the water industry, but they're not doing anything that I'm aware of to all the other products it's in. It's in everything from popcorn bags to pizza boxes to makeup to whatever."

The EPA's proposed rule would require public water systems to monitor for PFAS, notify the public of the PFAS levels and reduce the levels if they exceed the proposed standards.

One way of testing water to detect contaminant levels as low as 4.0 parts per trillion is by using solid phase extraction, said Kevin Wang, assistant professor in the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Science at Auburn University, whose research includes PFAS compounds.

"For example, right now you have one liter of the water. If we evaporate the water to get down to one milliliter you will concentrate a 1,000 times and the concentrate will be increased, so you can use the instrument to identify that level," he said.

The EPA has suggested a number of technologies for water systems to treat drinking water and remove PFAS, including the use of granulated activated carbon (GAC), anion exchange, nanofiltration and reverse osmosis.

City engineers are primarily considering the use of GAC and anion exchange to remove PFAS from Auburn's drinking water, said Carson, adding that "there's pluses and minuses to both."

"Once you treat it, you have to backwash those systems and you've got to do something with that waste. And there's also some proposals going through the EPA to make that waste considered hazardous waste, which opens up a whole other can of issues," he said.

Wang noted that PFAS are so difficult to break down because of the strong bond between carbon and fluorine.

"That one is one of the strongest bonds we find in nature, which means you have to put a lot of energy to break down the carbon-fluorine bond, so that's why the treatment cost is very high," said Wang.

Carson made the point that instituting the proposed rule nationwide would increase the demand for the materials used to remediate PFAS from drinking water and possibly create a shortage, and that a different approach may be to focus on those water systems with high levels of PFAS, many of which are found on military bases or downstream from chemical factories of companies like DuPont and 3M, which is being sued by states and municipalities nationwide and has indicated that it will exit all PFAS manufacturing by 2025.

Examples of water systems with high levels of PFAS are numerous. Birmingham International Airport reported PFOS of 45,000 parts per trillion in 2019, while Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery reported 84,000 ppt (PFOA) and 38,000 ppt (PFOS).

"I know a lot of organizations that we're involved with have submitted comments about the proposed rule, and we've asked for more time," said Carson. "I think we'd like them to focus on not only more time, but maybe focus more on the aquifers that are more heavily impacted. You have much higher concentrations. There's a worry that they're going to flood the market with these requirements and there's not going to be enough contractors or supplies to meet the demand. Just in Alabama alone, there's over 90 systems impacted by this. Each treatment system, in and of itself, is going to be millions of dollars for each one, and you can look at the other 50 states and do the math. You're talking billions and billions of dollars. I don't think they thought this through very well."

Ultimately, the cost for removing PFAS from water systems will be passed on to the consumer.

"Whether it's ratepayers or the taxpayers, it's coming out of your pocket," Carson said. "I kind of wish they would just pause a little bit and maybe focus on the hotter spots, but that's not my call."

While many systems have PFAS levels that are alarming, the levels of PFAS in Auburn's drinking water are not a cause for major concern.

"Auburn is OK. It's not that bad, at least for me," said Wang.

Carson echoed Wang's assessment, saying that "Auburn is in much better shape than I would say most utilities who are being impacted by this."

"I don't think it's anything to be really scared or totally alarmed about because e've been living with it for so long," he said. "But if the science indicates that it needs to come out, I think the industry will move, quit doing that and it's going to take a long time to clean it up, and we'll go there if we have to.

"But the water is safe to drink. And whatever regulations the EPA throws at us the Auburn Water Board is prepared to step up and meet those standards."

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