The EPA fact sheet about PFOA & PFOS in your Drinking Water

 PFOA and PFOS are fluorinated organic chemicals that are part of a larger group of chemicals referred to as perfluoroalky substances(PFASs).  PFOA and PFOS have been most extensively produced and studied of these chemicals.  They have been used to make carpets, clothing, fabrics for furniture, paper packaging for foods and other materials (cookware) that are resistance to water, grease or stains.  They are also used for firefighting at air fields and in a number  of industries processes.   Because these chemicals have been used in a array of consumer products, most people have been exposed to them.  Between 2000 and 2002, PFOS was voluntarily phased out of production in the U.S. by its primary manufacture.  In 2006, eight major companies voluntarily  agreed to phase out their global production of POFA and PFOA-related chemicals, although there are limited number of ongoing uses.  Scientists have found PFOA and PFOS in the blood of all the people they have tested.  While the levels have been decreasing it is most common in the water supplies.     . While consumer products and food are a large source of exposure to these chemicals for most people, drinking water can be an additional source in the small percentage of communities where these chemicals have contaminated water supplies. Such contamination is typically localized and associated with a specific facility, for example, an industrial facility where these chemicals were produced or used to manufacture other products or an airfield at which they were used for firefighting.

EPA’s 2016 Lifetime Health Advisories, continued To provide Americans, including the most sensitive populations, with a margin of protection from a lifetime of exposure to PFOA and PFOS from drinking water, EPA established the health advisory levels at 70 parts per trillion. When both PFOA and PFOS are found in drinking water, the combined concentrations of PFOA and PFOS should be compared with the 70 parts per trillion health advisory level. This health advisory level offers a margin of protection for all Americans throughout their life from adverse health effects resulting from exposure to PFOA and PFOS in drinking water. How the Health Advisories were developed EPA’s health advisories are based on the best available peer-reviewed studies of the effects of PFOA and PFOS on laboratory animals (rats and mice) and were also informed by epidemiological studies of human populations that have been exposed to PFASs. These studies indicate that exposure to PFOA and PFOS over certain levels may result in adverse health effects, including developmental effects to fetuses during pregnancy's or to breastfed infants (e.g., low birth weight, accelerated puberty, skeletal variations), cancer (e.g., testicular, kidney), liver effects (e.g., tissue damage), immune effects (e.g., antibody production and immunity), thyroid effects and other effects (e.g., cholesterol changes). EPA’s health advisory levels were calculated to offer a margin of protection against adverse health effects to the most sensitive populations: fetuses during pregnancy and breastfed infants. The health advisory levels are calculated based on the drinking water intake of lactating women, who drink more water than other people and can pass these chemicals along to nursing infants through breastmilk. Recommended Actions for Drinking Water Systems Steps to Assess Contamination If water sampling results confirm that drinking water contains PFOA and PFOS at individual or combined concentrations greater than 70 parts per trillion, water systems should quickly undertake additional sampling to assess the level, scope and localized source of contamination to inform next steps Steps to Inform If water sampling results confirm that drinking water contains PFOA and PFOS at individual or combined concentrations greater than 70 parts per trillion, water systems should promptly notify their State drinking water safety agency (or with EPA in jurisdictions for which EPA is the primary drinking water safety agency) and consult with the relevant agency on the best approach to conduct additional sampling. Drinking water systems and public health officials should also promptly provide consumers with information about the levels of PFOA and PFOS in their drinking water. This notice should include specific information on the risks to fetuses during pregnancy and breastfed and formula-fed infants from exposure to drinking water with an individual or combined concentration of PFOA and PFOS above EPA’s health advisory level of 70 parts per trillion. In addition, the notification should include actions they are taking and identify options that consumers may consider to reduce risk such as seeking an alternative drinking water source, or in the case of parents of formula-fed infants, using formula that does not require adding water.

Recommended Actions for Drinking Water Systems, continued Steps to Limit Exposure A number of options are available to drinking water systems to lower concentrations of PFOA and PFOS in their drinking water supply. In some cases, drinking water systems can reduce concentrations of perfluoroalkyl substances, including PFOA and PFOS, by closing contaminated wells or changing rates of blending of water sources. Alternatively, public water systems can treat source water with activated carbon or high pressure membrane systems (e.g., reverse osmosis) to remove PFOA and PFOS from drinking water. These treatment systems are used by some public water systems today, but should be carefully designed and maintained to ensure that they are effective for treating PFOA and PFOS. In some communities, entities have provided bottled water to consumers while steps to reduce or remove PFOA or PFOS from drinking water or to establish a new water supply are completed. Many home drinking water treatment units are certified by independent accredited third party organizations against American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards to verify their contaminant removal claims. NSF International (NSF®) has developed a protocol for NSF/ANSI Standards 53 and 58 that establishes minimum requirements for materials, design and construction, and performance of point-of-use (POU) activated carbon drinking water treatment systems and reverse osmosis systems that are designed to reduce PFOA and PFOS in public water supplies. The protocol has been established to certify systems (e.g., home treatment systems) that meet the minimum requirements. The systems are evaluated for contaminant reduction by challenging them with an influent of 1.5±30% µg/L (total of both PFOA and PFOS) and must reduce this concentration by more than 95% to 0.07 µg/L or less (total of both PFOA and PFOS) throughout the manufacturer’s stated life of the treatment system. Product certification to this protocol for testing home treatment systems verifies that devices effectively reduces PFOA and PFOS to acceptable levels. Other Actions Relating to PFOA and PFOS Between 2000 and 2002, PFOS was voluntarily phased out of production in the U.S. by its primary manufacturer, 3M. EPA also issued regulations to limit future manufacturing, including importation, of PFOS and its precursors, without first having EPA review the new use. A limited set of existing uses for PFOS (fire resistant aviation hydraulic fluids, photography and film products, photomicrolithography process to produce semiconductors, metal finishing and plating baths, component of an etchant) was excluded from these regulations.