The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing changes to federal drinking water standards for PFAS “forever chemicals,” including delaying enforcement of limits on several compounds that environmental advocates say are critical to protecting public health.
The proposal would roll back or delay parts of a 2024 rule that established the first enforceable national drinking water limits for several PFAS chemicals, including PFOA and PFOS. Environmental groups say the changes could increase exposure to toxic substances linked in scientific studies to a range of health risks.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a large class of human-made chemicals widely used in manufacturing, firefighting foams and consumer products. They are often called “forever chemicals” because they do not readily break down in the environment or the human body.
Tracy Carluccio, deputy director of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, said the 2024 rule represented the culmination of decades of research and was designed to address widespread contamination of drinking water.
“The EPA should abandon its name, Environmental Protection Agency. It is not protecting the public anymore. It has made the priority of corporate interest, the made the priority corporate interest instead of the public. And as a result of that, it means that we as people are not being considered when these rules are being put out and when eventually they’re being adopted,” she said.
Carluccio said the 2024 rule set federal limits for PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion, along with limits for other PFAS compounds including PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS and GenX chemicals (HFPO-DA) at 10 parts per trillion, as well as a hazard index approach for mixtures of those chemicals.
She said the current EPA proposal would scale back or delay those protections, including rolling back standards for several of the compounds and postponing enforcement of limits on PFOA and PFOS. She argued that the changes would increase exposure and lead to additional long-term health impacts.
“So that was adopted and went into place and now the Trump administration is pulling back the standards for all of the four that are set at 10 parts per trillion and the mixture and he’s delaying the implementation of the PFOA and the PFAS which will expose more people and to PFAS in their drinking water and the result will be more human health impacts,” Carluccio said.
PFAS contamination, she said, is widespread throughout the Delaware River watershed, affecting surface water, groundwater, drinking water and even vegetation. She said testing across the region has repeatedly detected the chemicals in multiple environmental media.
Carluccio also pointed to known sources of PFAS contamination, including industrial manufacturing, the use of firefighting foam at airports and military bases, and the application of sewage sludge or biosolids on farmland.
States in the watershed — New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware — have adopted their own drinking water standards for PFAS in recent years. But she said federal standards remain essential to ensure protections in states without their own limits.
“The problem is that when the federal government adopts the standard, it applies to all states nationwide,” she said. “Those states that don’t have state standards are now going to be left hanging without any protection at all.”
She also rejected arguments from the EPA that utilities may need additional time or flexibility to comply with the rules, saying treatment technologies such as granular activated carbon and reverse osmosis are already widely used and available to remove PFAS from drinking water.
Carluccio said delaying enforcement does not eliminate contamination, but instead prolongs exposure to chemicals she linked to a range of health conditions, including certain cancers, thyroid disease, high cholesterol and pregnancy complications.
“By ignoring it, you’re not doing away with it,” she said. “As a matter of fact, you’re prolonging the risk of people developing a disease that is linked to PFAS.”
She added that the current standards are already subject to legal challenge but argued they should remain in place during court review to continue protecting public health.
The EPA has not yet issued a final decision on the proposed changes. A public hearing is scheduled for July 7. The EPA will accept written comments on the proposed rule in the public docket until July 20, 2026. The public docket can be accessed at www.regulations.gov under Docket ID: EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0654.
Image: Vials containing PFAS samples sit in a tray April 10, 2024, at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lab in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File)