Federal PFAS Regs to Saddle Cities with Unwieldy Costs

After decades of virtually no federal restrictions, the Biden administration is poised to set mandatory limits on six PFAS in drinking water. Expected to be finalized before this fall, the rule is critical for public health, scientists say, since the human-made chemicals have been linked to a litany of diseases and reproductive health issues.

Yet the EPA rule is undeniably expensive. For cities like Kalispell that don’t know how the chemicals entered their water, treatment costs could fall on residents or U.S. taxpayers.

“These costs, even if you use EPA’s numbers, are astronomically high,” said Emily Lamond, an environmental attorney at the law firm Cole Schotz. “EPA is trying very hard to be PFAS-smart while balancing political pressures and trying to navigate how to address this unique chemical — in a regulatory regime that wasn’t designed for [it].” – Emily Lamond