‘Forever chemicals’ rapidly emerging as a potential health threat.
Wells of nearly two dozen Southern California water agencies have reportable levels of PFAS, a chemical family increasingly linked to cancer, liver and kidney damage, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, low fertility, low birth weight and ulcerative colitis.
Read Jan. 17, 2020 update: ‘Forever chemicals’ in Orange County drinking water to force widespread well closures
Seven of those agencies have shut down wells in the past year because of the presence of those chemicals and two more plan closures, an investigation by the Southern California News Group found.
The state only this year began ordering testing for the chemicals, and a state law requiring that customers be notified about the presence of those chemicals won’t kick in until next year.
The substances are dubbed “forever chemicals” because they resist breaking down in nature.
“PFAS is the climate change of toxic chemicals,” said Andria Ventura, toxics program manager for the advocacy group Clean Water Action. “They never go away. Virtually all Americans have them in their blood. Babies are born with them. … They’re some of the scariest things I’ve worked on.”
The Center for Disease Control has found PFAS in the blood of 98% of people 12 and older who were tested for the chemicals.
Growing concern about the toxins led to the state to announce Aug. 23 that it was drastically lowering its required reporting threshold, making it likely that more water agencies will be reporting the toxins’ presence in upcoming months.
The man-made chemicals were first developed in the 1940s and became widely used in manufactured products because of their resistance to water, oil and heat. Over the decades, these chemicals have been used to help waterproof and stainproof clothes, shoes, furniture and carpets, to make nonstick cookware, to fortify cardboard food containers and paper food wrappers, to improve the firefighting foam used at airports and to assist in the process of chrome plating.
But there’s growing documentation that exposure to these chemicals, even in miniscule amounts, can have health consequences.
While thousands of chemicals are found in the PFAS family and many are attracting scrutiny, attention has focused most keenly on Pefluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) and Perfluoroctane Sulfonate (PFOS). Starting in the early 2000s manufacturers began to phase out the use of both PFOA and PFOS, which are no longer manufactured in — or imported to — the United States.
In Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, 74 water agencies have been ordered by the state to test for PFOA and PFOS. The 330 targeted wells were picked because they are located where PFOA and PFOS can linger, particularly near landfills, airports and military bases, and downstream of wastewater plants.
If PFOA is found in 14 parts per trillion, the water agency must notify the cities served by that well for the first round of testing, recently completed. For PFOS, the trigger is 13 parts per trillion. Those thresholds are dubbed “notification levels.”
For the next round of quarterly testing, the notification levels are being lowered to 5.1 parts per trillion for PFOA and 6.5 for PFOS.
In an Olympic-sized swimming pool, one part per trillion amounts to four grains of sugar.
In 67 trips to the moon, it would equal 1 inch.
If the combined total of PFOA and PFOS in a well is 70 parts per trillion or more — an amount known as the “response level” — the state recommends that the well be taken out of service, and the Environmental Protection Agency recommends that consumers be informed. A new state law kicking in next year will require customer notification.
A survey of water agencies by the Southern California News Group identified 104 wells in the region that reached the notification levels in the first round of sampling. Of those, three were recommended to be shut down — and all three have been closed.
Additionally, three wells have been taken offline because of high PFAS levels were detected before monitoring was ordered, and four others that tested under 70 parts per trillion were closed as a cautionary step by the agencies that controlled those wells.
“All this is done out of an abundance of caution,” said Marc Marcantonio, general manager of the Yorba Linda Water District. “We don’t really know the thresholds” for affecting health.
Despite uncertainty over health thresholds, the state Division of Drinking Water is considering imposing stricter response levels and requiring testing for additional PFAS chemicals.
Health consequences
Water treatment was introduced to the United States in the late 19th Century and has been evolving steadily ever since.
Among traditional water toxins tracked and treated are arsenic and nitrates, which can still pose a hazard — particularly in some rural and poor neighborhoods. The State Water Resources Control Board has identified more than 1 million Californians at risk for unsafe water because of traditional, non-PFAS toxins and on Aug. 20 authorized $241 million to address the problem.
The sluggish rate of attention paid to PFAS chemicals is a result of the extremely low levels at which they can be toxic and the lack of precise data about health effects.
“I think it is fair to say there is less certainty and more scientific debate regarding the appropriate health-thresholds for PFOA and PFOS as compared to other contaminants,” Dadakis said.
A draft report from the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances says that the chemicals have been found in human breast milk and umbilical cord blood, and that pregnant women and infants can be particularly vulnerable.
The dearth of monitoring data on humans contributes to the imprecision of the science — past studies have focused on those exposed to higher concentrations near PFAS manufacturers like 3M and Dupont in the Midwest and the East.
Additionally, the effects on test animals and humans differ, in part, because the chemicals remain in people much longer.
The broader family of PFAS chemicals can also be found in food, due to contamination either because of water or packaging. And while for babies the primary source of PFAS exposure is usually breast milk, carpet can also be a large source of exposure in homes with PFAS-treated carpet, according to Anna Reade, a biologist with the Natural Resources Defense Council.
Beside PFOA and PFOS, the state is asking water agencies to test for at least 12 other PFAS chemicals — and may establish reportable levels for those as well.
And while some manufacturers have transitioned to PFAS chemicals thought to be less toxic and more easily broken down in nature, the Natural Resources Defense Council and Clean Water Action are pushing for a ban on all PFAS chemicals except in essential uses, such as fire-retardant clothing for firefighters.
While there are other sources of the contamination, water continues to be a primary focus for activists.
“It has an answer — you can treat it,” Reade said.
“It’s still difficult to ascertain exactly what safe levels of PFAS are but the data is evolving rapidly,” she said. “The scientific community is beginning to understand how dangerous this can be.”
Hanh Truong contributed to this story.
An earlier version of this story and accompanying graphic was written with the understanding that the California Water Service Company planned to shut down a well above the notification level. The story and graphic have been updated to reflect that the agency has now closed that well.
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READ OC REGISTER ARTICLE HERE
Wells of nearly two dozen Southern California water agencies have reportable levels of PFAS, a chemical family increasingly linked to cancer, liver and kidney damage, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, low fertility, low birth weight and ulcerative colitis.
Read Jan. 17, 2020 update: ‘Forever chemicals’ in Orange County drinking water to force widespread well closures
Seven of those agencies have shut down wells in the past year because of the presence of those chemicals and two more plan closures, an investigation by the Southern California News Group found.
The state only this year began ordering testing for the chemicals, and a state law requiring that customers be notified about the presence of those chemicals won’t kick in until next year.
The substances are dubbed “forever chemicals” because they resist breaking down in nature.
“PFAS is the climate change of toxic chemicals,” said Andria Ventura, toxics program manager for the advocacy group Clean Water Action. “They never go away. Virtually all Americans have them in their blood. Babies are born with them. … They’re some of the scariest things I’ve worked on.”
Tiny toxins
The reporting thresholds are minute.
If PFOA is found in 14 parts per trillion, the water agency must notify the cities served by that well for the first round of testing, recently completed. For PFOS, the trigger is 13 parts per trillion. Those thresholds are dubbed “notification levels.”
For the next round of quarterly testing, the notification levels are being lowered to 5.1 parts per trillion for PFOA and 6.5 for PFOS.
In an Olympic-sized swimming pool, one part per trillion amounts to four grains of sugar.
In 67 trips to the moon, it would equal 1 inch.
If the combined total of PFOA and PFOS in a well is 70 parts per trillion or more — an amount known as the “response level” — the state recommends that the well be taken out of service, and the Environmental Protection Agency recommends that consumers be informed. A new state law kicking in next year will require customer notification.
A survey of water agencies by the Southern California News Group identified 104 wells in the region that reached the notification levels in the first round of sampling. Of those, three were recommended to be shut down — and all three have been closed.
Additionally, three wells have been taken offline because of high PFAS levels were detected before monitoring was ordered, and four others that tested under 70 parts per trillion were closed as a cautionary step by the agencies that controlled those wells.
“All this is done out of an abundance of caution,” said Marc Marcantonio, general manager of the Yorba Linda Water District. “We don’t really know the thresholds” for affecting health.
Despite uncertainty over health thresholds, the state Division of Drinking Water is considering imposing stricter response levels and requiring testing for additional PFAS chemicals.
