Addressing PFAS Contamination: Biden-Harris Administration’s Action Plan

by Charlie Xiang

The United States has long faced challenges in setting national standards for drinking water, particularly when it comes to addressing emerging contaminants that pose significant health risks. For decades, the primary focus has been on well-known pollutants like lead and pesticides, but new research reveals a pressing need to regulate synthetic chemicals such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals.” These chemicals, once widely used in consumer products, are now known to persist in the environment and accumulate in the human body, causing serious health problems, including cancers, liver damage, and developmental issues in infants and children. Despite their dangerous effects, PFAS contamination went largely unregulated, leaving millions of Americans unknowingly exposed through their drinking water. The absence of legally enforceable national standards for PFAS in water supplies had become a glaring issue in the U.S. public health framework.

This situation began to change under the Biden-Harris administration, which has made tackling PFAS pollution an increasing national priority. In a landmark move, the administration finalized the first-ever national drinking water standards for PFAS in April 2024, alongside a series of measures aimed at holding polluters accountable and ensuring safer drinking water for all Americans. These actions mark a major step forward in addressing the gaps that have plagued the country’s water regulation policies for years.

On April 10, 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), under the Biden-Harris administration, announced a groundbreaking decision to implement the first national, legally enforceable standards for six PFAS chemicals in drinking water. This long-overdue move is expected to protect approximately 100 million Americans from exposure to these hazardous chemicals, which have been linked to severe health problems, including certain cancers, liver and heart issues, and developmental damage to children. These regulations are a crucial component of the EPA’s broader PFAS Strategic Roadmap, an initiative that aims to address PFAS pollution through a multifaceted approach.

The new regulation sets strict limits for five individual PFAS chemicals—PFOA, PFOS, PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA (also known as GenX)—and also creates a limit for mixtures of these chemicals. According to the EPA, between 6% and 10% of the country’s 66,000 public drinking water systems will need to take action to meet these standards. All systems are required to monitor PFAS levels, with three years given for initial testing. If PFAS concentrations exceed the new limits, systems must implement solutions like granular activated carbon, reverse osmosis, or ion exchange to reduce contamination, ensuring that citizens have access to safe drinking water.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan has hailed this rule as a critical victory in the fight against PFAS pollution. “Drinking water contaminated with PFAS has plagued communities across this country for too long,” Regan said. “That is why President Biden has made tackling PFAS a top priority, investing historic resources to address these harmful chemicals and protect communities nationwide.”

To complement this regulatory action, the Biden-Harris administration has secured nearly $1 billion in new funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. This investment is part of a larger $9 billion effort aimed at tackling PFAS contamination, and an additional $12 billion is earmarked for general drinking water improvements, including the treatment of emerging contaminants like PFAS. This unprecedented funding package underscores the administration’s commitment to making clean water a reality for communities across the nation, particularly those that have been disproportionately impacted by industrial pollution.

In fact, the EPA’s funding initiative is closely aligned with President Biden’s Justice40 Initiative, which aims to ensure that 40% of the benefits from certain federal investments flow to historically underserved communities. Many of these communities have been disproportionately exposed to PFAS contamination due to proximity to manufacturing plants, military bases, or industrial sites where PFAS chemicals have been heavily used or released.

For instance, in 2017, residents of Fayetteville, North Carolina, discovered that their drinking water source, the Cape Fear River, was contaminated with PFAS from a nearby manufacturing plant. Today, Fayetteville stands as a stark example of the nationwide impact of PFAS pollution. As part of the administration’s response, the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority has already deployed granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration to remove PFAS, a solution that is now recommended for other affected areas.

The Biden-Harris administration’s new PFAS standards and Superfund designation are being praised by environmental advocates and public health experts as long-overdue actions that will finally address the widespread contamination caused by PFAS chemicals. For years, communities across the U.S. have raised concerns about the health impacts of PFAS exposure, especially in areas where manufacturing plants or military bases have polluted water supplies with these toxic chemicals.

Ken Cook, president and co-founder of an environmental advocacy organization Environmental Working Group and water safety expert, commented on this policy, stating “For decades, the American people have been exposed to the family of incredibly toxic ‘forever chemicals’ known as PFAS with no protection from their government. Those chemicals now contaminate virtually all Americans from birth...The fact that the EPA has adopted the very strong policy announced today should give everyone confidence that the Biden administration will stay the course and keep the president’s promises.”

While the new regulations represent a major victory in the fight against PFAS contamination, the work is far from over. The EPA has made it clear that the new drinking water limits and Superfund designations are just the beginning of a broader strategy to combat PFAS pollution. Moving forward, the administration will continue to invest in research, technology, and policy measures to reduce PFAS exposure, clean up contaminated sites, and hold polluters accountable. As the Biden-Harris administration pushes forward with its PFAS Strategic Roadmap, one thing is clear: the days of unregulated PFAS pollution are coming to an end. Through coordinated federal action, communities across the country can finally look forward to cleaner water, healthier lives, and a future free from the toxic grip of “forever chemicals.”