One part per trillion is equivalent to one droplet in an Olympic-sized swimming pool, experts say.Īnd, Vradenburgh said, testing for PFAS contaminants can be expensive, a cost that’s passed onto consumers in rate increases.
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“I’m assuming the labs are scrambling trying to figure out how to do that.” “I don’t think we can find a lab that gets that low as of yet,” said Wayne Vradenburgh, the superintendent of the city of Newburgh’s water department.
Some water department heads are already hunting around for a lab to do the testing.
The village of Nyack, for one, is in the midst of designing and financing what will be a multi-million dollar treatment facility. The outcome of all this is likely to have broader implications for water departments across the state already grappling with the cost of upgrades to identify PFAS contaminants in drinking supplies. If adopted, residents in communities where contaminant levels are determined to be too high would be notified. The public will then have opportunity to weigh in before the Health Department decides whether to adopt new standards. Last month, the state’s Drinking Water Council - a group that includes the commissioners of the state Departments of Health and Environmental Conservation as well as experts from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and other universities- recommended acceptable drinking water levels for 23 other PFAS that have not previously been regulated.ĭraft regulations will be published in the coming weeks. The EPA’s announcement comes as the state weighs an expansion of the types of PFAS it currently regulates. “Until then, New York will continue to work closely with EPA on their PFAS guidance, while upholding the strictest regulatory standards possible and using the best available science to ensure protections for water quality and public health," state Health Department spokesman Cort Ruddy said. State officials say they are reviewing the EPA’s latest advisory and are awaiting the release of new PFAS standards, which are expected later this year.
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