This feels personal

PFAS found in beer

This news update is part of a series on PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, "Forever Chemicals") in drinking water. You can read all the previous PFAS posts here.

After telling you last time that there was a lot going on but none of it was ready to be written up, this week everything has landed at once, as well as a new story. More on all that below, but first, PFAS.

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In disturbing news for beer drinkers, a team from RTI International found that drinking water is introducing PFAS contamination into beer. The study found PFAS compounds in most beers, with PFOS and PFOA, compounds associated with firefighting foam, present in some at levels above the EPA maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for drinking water. A newer PFAS compound, HFPO-DA, also known as Gen X, was found in beers from the Cape Fear area of North Carolina, where it is manufactured.

Beer. 📷 John Lovie

That PFAS is getting into beer from drinking water is not surprising, given the latest data set from the EPA’s Fifth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 5). The Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requires that once every five years the EPA issue a list of unregulated contaminants to be monitored by public water systems (PWSs). The fifth cohort of contaminants consists of 29 PFAS compounds, plus lithium. From that latest dataset, EPA estimates that 8.5 % of public water systems contain at least one PFAS compound above the MCLs.

PFAS contamination in drinking water is not the only potential source of human intake of PFAS from the environment, as studies of PFAS in biosolids - municipal sewage sludge - are showing. On May 17th, Washington State Governor Bob Ferguson signed into law Senate Bill 5033, which directs the Department of Ecology to develop by July 1, 2026, a sampling and testing protocol for PFAS in biosolids, and for sewage treatment plants to test quarterly starting no later than January 1, 2027, and ending by June 30, 2028. In preparation, in the fall of 2023 Ecology’s biosolids program asked for sewage treatment plants to voluntarily participate in a biosolids PFAS sampling study. The initial results are in. One of our local cities participated. The public works director was kind enough to share her results with me. There is no fire station within the service area of the sewer system, yet detections of PFOS and PFOA, PFAS compounds mostly used in firefighting foam, were found in levels above the drinking water MCLs, levels that might be concerning for agricultural use of these biosolids. We’re awaiting the full report and analysis from Ecology.

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With all these examples of the prevalence of PFAS in drinking water and elsewhere in the environment, and especially in light of Executive Order 13045, which directs that

“each Federal agency: shall make it a high priority to identify and assess environmental health risks and safety risks that may disproportionately affect children; and shall ensure that its policies, programs, activities, and standards address disproportionate risks to children that result from environmental health risks or safety risks.”

it’s especially disappointing that the administration has chosen to attempt to weaken the EPA’s National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for PFAS. It's down to the States to step up where the administration is stepping back. My home state of Washington is doing just that.

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Last November, I gave thanks to Washington State, and especially to the Department of Ecology, for developing a PFAS Statewide Funding Strategy: Four-Year Plan for Prevention, Reduction, and Mitigation in Washington State, and pointed out that the strategy still needed to make it through the legislature and governor’s budget process in a tough budget year. I’m happy to report that it survived, with significant funding and even some new job positions which can be filled when the new state budget year starts July 1. Under this plan, Ecology is working with EPA to develop a protocol for testing wells, soils, and groundwater at non-military PFAS contamination sites such as rural fire stations.

The state budget process was less kind to the Department of Health, with cuts in funding for the Office of Drinking Water landing particularly hard. Some of the proposed changes in response to these cuts are going to make it harder for staff to maintain relationships with water systems and deliver the needed level of service. Ecology’s current and former directors are colleagues and associates of the current governor, while the Secretary of Health position is currently vacant. At this level, at least, it seems that relationships do matter. This is the new story I mentioned at the top. I’ll likely report more on it in the coming weeks.

Undeterred, the Department of Health has been busy. While waiting for the EPA to develop maximum contaminant levels for PFAS compounds, Washington State Board of Health adopted State Advisory Levels (SALs) and rules to require testing for drinking water systems and notification to consumers if the SALs were exceeded. In response to the EPA MCLs, and to the administration’s backsliding, the state is currently engaged in three rulemaking efforts. The first is an emergency rule, which keeps the SALs in place until the federal rules take effect and must be renewed every 90 days. The second is an exception rule, which adopts everything in the federal rule by reference into the state code, except the actual MCL values. This has completed a public comment period and is expected to be finalized this summer. The third is the permanent rule, which aims to replace the SALs with the federal MCLs. This rule is out for informal public comment while the rule language is being developed. I’ll be adding my comment. The overall intended effect of these changes is to preserve the federal MCLs as State MCLs and SALs in case of federal backsliding. Formalizing these MCLs also helps give clarity to Ecology in establishing cleanup standards for soils and groundwater.

My friends at DOH have updated their PFAS website, making it the best source on information on PFAS for the general public that I have seen anywhere. I particularly enjoy the coffee and chat videos featuring our PFAS toxicologist and health communicator.

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Speaking of chats, in other news, my second guest conversation on Whidbey Environmental Action Network’s (WEAN) Action Hour Podcast with host Amanda Bullis is up. This one is on sea level rise. You can listen on Spotify, Apple Music, iHeart Radio, or on WEAN’s website. Look for an accompanying post in the next few weeks.

We’ll be heading out to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, in a few weeks, where my wife is competing in the Ironman 70.3 Coeur d'Alene. She’s done this race a couple of times before, but this is my first opportunity to write about it for you. As usual, I’ll be covering the race itself and whatever local water issues find me there. You can read earlier triathlon posts here.

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