Recent PFAS News

In December 2022, the 3rd Draft of EPA Method 1633 was released which includes quality control criteria that was produced from a multi-laboratory validation study conducted for wastewater.

Eurofins Environment Testing laboratory in Denver, CO announces that they have received accreditation for Draft EPA Method 1633 for the US Department of Defense and Department of Energy under QSM 5.4 Table B-24 for all 40 PFAS compounds for water and solid matrices.

Eurofins Sacramento, part of the Eurofins network of companies in the US, in collaboration with SCIEX USA, successfully achieved the analytical challenge of detecting the 2022 interim Health Advisory Levels (HALs) of 4ppq (parts per quadrillion) for PFOA and 20ppq for PFOS, as established by the US EPA.

EPA established the current Lifetime Health Advisory Limits (HALs) of 70ppt for PFOA and PFOS in 2016. Those limits were intended to provide a margin of protection to a lifetime of exposure to PFOA and PFOS from drinking water.

On October 18, 2021 EPA Administrator Michael Regan announced the agency’s comprehensive Strategic Roadmap to address PFAS contamination. This roadmap replaces the agency’s previous PFAS Action Plan of 2019. Although there are many carryovers from the previous plan, the action items in this roadmap are more detailed, have more aggressive timelines, and there are new goals to achieve.

In 2017 NY enacted legislation directing the state health department to create a list of emerging contaminants that every water utility would be required to test for including notification levels. The department has yet to create this list, so the legislature has passed a new bill to speed up this process.

Recently, the California State Water Resources Control Board issued Orders to Refineries and Bulk Fuel Storage Terminals requiring they submit a work plan and begin testing for PFAS at their facilities.

In an article published in EM Magazine, Taryn McKnight considers whether a chemical class approach to addressing PFAS concerns is sustainable or scientifically sound.