EWG analysis reveals more PFAS contamination nationwide

35 minutes ago

Andrea Durán,

Salisbury, Md. -197 million people in the U.S. may be drinking water contaminated by dangerous “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.

Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency analyzed by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that about 23 million more people are drinking PFAS contaminated water than previous testing indicated.

This comes as the EPA increases environmental deregulation and the agency is in the final stages of proposed rollbacks on four PFAS chemical limits.

EWG officials say this coincides with a 2020 paper they published that estimated that PFAS were in the drinking water of as many as 200 million Americans.

“The new data confirms what we feared: PFAS contamination of tap water is as widespread as our study estimated in 2020,” EWG Chief Science Officer David Andrews, PhD, said in the latest release.

In Salisbury, some residents have been in litigation against Perdue for PFAS contamination. Lawyers representing the residents say the study does not impact the case, but agrees with other fears that the rollbacks could mean residents have to use litigation as a final recourse.

“What the consequence of that is that there’ll be less compliance and probably more litigation,” Phil Federico said. Federico is a partner at Brockstedt Mandalas Federico, which is a firm representing Salisbury residents in environmental litigation against Perdue. “But there still is plenty of litigation because industry and corporations refuse to transparently comply.”

Perdue Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications Andrea Staub said in a statement to WMDT:

“PFAS is not used in our operations. We take environmental compliance seriously and continue to work with the appropriate regulatory agencies and experts to address PFAS where it has been identified.”

Federico recommended those with well water to test their water regularly and Andrews recommend those who know of or suspect the presence of PFAS in their water to find home filtration systems to reduce exposure.