November 27,2017
the staff Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, New Jersey scientists are urging the state to impose a strict limit on a chemical that has been linked to cancer, developmental problems, and changes to the human immune system in the latest move to curb the presence of perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) in drinking water.
The Drinking Water Quality Institute will this week consider a recommendation to set a limit of 13 parts per trillion (ppt) for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) as the level at which human health would be protected over a lifetime of exposure.
The limit, proposed by the DWQI’s health effects subcommittee, would be the strictest set by any state, and would build on New Jersey’s growing status as a national leader in the regulation of a family of chemicals that are found at higher concentrations in New Jersey’s drinking water than in most other places.
The plan to regulate PFOS follows similar recommendations for two related chemicals, PFNA and PFOA, which are being assigned “Maximum Contaminant Limits” (MCLs) by the Department of Environmental Protection after research by DWQI scientists over the past three years.
PFOS and other PFCs were made for consumer products like fabric coatings and nonstick cookware over more than 50 years and were phased out by the main U.S. manufacturer in the early 2000s because of concerns about their health effects.
According to Ridgewood Water , “PFOA and PFNA are contaminants that belong to a class of man-made chemicals called PFASs. PFASs are not found in the natural environment and have historically been used in nonstick cookware, upholstery, carpets, waterproof materials, fire-fighting materials, and food packaging. PFASs do not break down easily and remain in the environment for a long period of time. ”
Ridgewood Water has been participating in DEP unregulated contaminant testing for PFASs since 2009. Ridgewood Water has been proactively working to introduce treatment for PFASs in our system long before this announcement, beginning with the decommissioning of the Carr wells in Ridgewood in January 2017, which possessed the highest level of PFOA in the system. Ridgewood Water is scheduled to install a Granular Activated Carbon (GAC) filter to strip the water supply of PFASs, and we expect that the Carr facility will be back online producing treated water by the last quarter of 2018. Ridgewood Water will be initiating a robust testing protocol by the end of 2017 to determine if other system locations require treatment.
