Last week, AMWA, by a vote of its Board of Directors, and the American Water Works Association filed a federal challenge to EPA’s National Primary Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR) for PFAS, contending that the agency failed to adequately consider comments filed by the organizations and other stakeholders, and did not abide by all the requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act during the development of the standard.
“AWWA and AMWA share the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s goal of protecting people from potentially harmful levels of PFAS in drinking water,” the organizations said in a statement issued last week. “We are concerned, however, that EPA did not use the best available data and appropriate processes in developing the PFAS regulation.
“Scientific process matters,” the statement continued, “especially when it will set precedent for how EPA develops future drinking water regulations. AMWA and AWWA therefore believe it is prudent to ask a court to verify that EPA constructed the PFAS regulation according to the letter and spirit of the Safe Drinking Water Act, and to give EPA an opportunity to revisit any components of the rule that fell short.”
AMWA supported EPA’s initial decision to develop drinking water standards for PFOA and PFOS, and last year the agency submitted comments in response to the agency’s NPDWR for those and several other PFAS. AMWA has continued to express consistent support for efforts to reduce the public’s exposure to PFAS and hold polluters accountable for their cleanup, and has urged its member utilities to make investments to reduce the presence of contaminants that have entered their source water supplies. The association is collaborating with AWWA on a communications program to ensure that stakeholders understand the reason for taking this action.