Biden-Harris Administration Announces More Than $325 Million in Environmental and Climate Justice Community Change Grants

EPA announces initial selections from $2 billion Inflation Reduction Act program – the largest single environmental justice investment in history – delivered by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda

WASHINGTON – Today, July 25, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced more than $325 million in funding for 21 selected applications to help disadvantaged communities tackle environmental and climate justice challenges through projects that reduce pollution, increase community climate resilience and build community capacity. Made possible by President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, the Community Change Grants Program is the single largest investment in environmental and climate justice in history. The funding announcement today is the first tranche of nearly $2 billion from the program that was designed based on community input to award grants on a rolling basis.

These selected applications are the first to come under the Community Change Grants Program’s rolling application process. Informed by robust stakeholder engagement and community feedback, the innovative rolling application process will ensure that applicants have ample time to prepare and take advantage of this historic resource. The Community Change Grants Program Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), administered through the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, is still accepting applications through November 21, 2024. EPA will continue to review applications and announce selections on a rolling basis.

“Our ability to deliver tangible results for communities depends on listening to them and developing innovative solutions through inclusive stakeholder engagement,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Today, thanks to President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, EPA has selected the first cohort of community partnerships to solve emerging and longstanding environmental and climate justice challenges.”

“Today’s grants put communities in the driver’s seat on the road to righting the environmental wrongs of the past and building their own clean energy future,” said John Podesta, Senior Advisor to the President for International Climate Policy.

“President Biden’s Investing in America agenda has accelerated our efforts to deliver environmental justice for communities that have been left behind for too long,” said Brenda Mallory, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. “As part of the President’s Justice40 Initiative, these grants will help disadvantaged communities tackle environmental and climate justice challenges they face by reducing pollution, increasing resilience to impacts from climate change, and building community capacity to see these projects through.”

The Inflation Reduction Act provides $3 billion to EPA to award grants that help disadvantaged communities and provide technical assistance. With these grants, EPA is delivering on this mission.

The Community Change Grants also deliver on President Biden’s commitment to advance equity and justice throughout the United States through his Justice40 Initiative to ensure that 40 percent of the overall benefits of certain federal investments go to disadvantaged communities that are marginalized by underinvestment and overburdened by pollution.

Example grants from this initial selection cohort include:

• Nearly $20 million to the Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association (MTERA) and Grid Alternatives to install home weatherization and energy efficiency upgrades across 35 Tribes in Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, improving indoor air quality for families and providing leadership development training for designated Tribal Energy Champions. MTERA also received a $62 million award from the EPA Solar for All program in May.
• $20 million to the Coalition for Responsible Community Development and Los Angeles Trade-Technical College to build environmental justice workforce development trainings for lead abatement, welding, hybrid and electric vehicle maintenance, home weatherization, and residential energy audits. Through this grant, the selected applicants are anticipated to complete lead abatement for more than 600 homes across Southern Los Angeles.
• Over $14 million to Texas A&M University and the Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program to install onsite wastewater treatment systems throughout 17 Black Belt counties in Alabama. Administrator Regan previously visited Lowndes County, Alabama—whose failing septic tanks and straight-piped sewage from homes into yards created a public health crisis in the region. This community also received a 100% forgivable $8.7 million loan from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to address critical wastewater challenges impacting families.
• Roughly $14 million to the Pittsburgh Conservation Corps and PowerCorpsPHL to expand workforce programs around urban forestry and wood waste reduction, expanding tree canopy in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and keeping wood waste out of landfills. This grant also includes funds to leverage biochar in reducing lead pollution in Pittsburgh soils.

Track I of the program, Community-Driven Investments for Change, is expected to award approximately $1.96 billion for 150 projects for $10-20 million each. The 17 Track I applicants who are implementing community-scale projects to address environmental and climate justice challenges are:

• Texas A&M University and Black Belt Unincorporated Wastewater Program (Wilcox/Hale/Lowndes Counties, AL)
• City of Bakersfield and Building Healthy Communities Kern (Bakersfield, CA)
• La Familia Counseling Center, Inc. and Community Resource Project (Sacramento, CA)
• Coalition for Responsible Community Development and Los Angeles Trade -Technical College (Los Angeles, CA)
• The San Diego Foundation and The Environmental Health Coalition (San Diego, CA)
• Day One and Active SGV (San Gabriel Valley, CA)
• City of Pocatello and Portneuf Greenway Foundation (Pocatello, ID)
• Dillard University and United Way of Southeast Louisiana (Southeast LA)
• City of Springfield and Public Health Institute of Western Massachusetts (Springfield, MA)
• Midwest Tribal Energy Resources Association and Grid Alternatives (MI, MN, WI)
• The MetroHealth System and Community Housing Solutions (Cleveland, OH)
• Lane County Oregon and United Way of Lane County (Lane County, OR)
• Pittsburgh Conservation Corps and PowerCorpsPHL (Pittsburgh/Philadelphia, PA)
• The Trust for Public Land and City of Chattanooga (Chattanooga, TN)
• City of Houston and Black United Fund of Texas (Houston, TX)
• Corporation of Gonzaga University and Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners (Spokane, WA)
• National Housing Trust and D.C. Children’s Law Center (Washington, D.C.)

Track II, Meaningful Engagement for Equitable Governance, is expected to award approximately $40 million for 20 projects for $1-3 million each. Track II applicants who will facilitate individual and community participation in governmental decision-making processes are:

• Insight Garden Program and Ella Baker Center for Human Rights (multiple locations in CA)
• The Trust for Public Land and See You At The Top (Cleveland, OH)
• Special Service for Groups, Inc. and Center for Asian Americans United for Self Empowerment (Los Angeles, CA)
• Bronx River Alliance, Inc. and Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (Bronx County, NY)

Of the 21 selections, three are for Target Investment Areas identified in the NOFO. Target Investment Area funding is intended to ensure that Community Change Grants Program funding is directed towards disadvantaged communities with unique circumstances, geography, and needs.

See the full listing of the initial 21 organizations receiving a CCGP grant and learn more about CCGP.

As the Community Change Grants Program is still accepting applications through November 21, 2024, EPA encourages applicants to submit applications as soon as they completely meet the NOFO requirements. EPA will be making additional selections on a rolling basis for the remainder of 2024. EPA also encourages interested applicants to apply for technical assistance as soon as possible, as the last day to request new technical assistance is August 16, 2024.

Read the Community Change Grants NOFO on EPA’s Inflation Reduction Act Community Change Grants Program webpage.

To learn more about the Community Change Grants and Technical Assistance visit EPA’s Inflation Reduction Act Community Change Grants Program webpage.

To learn more about environmental justice at EPA, visit EPA’s Environmental Justice webpage.

Water News for June 2024

A report has found that thousands of oil and gas wells across Colorado cannot generate enough revenue to cover their own cleanup cost. More than half the state’s oil and gas wells will generate, at most, $1bn in revenue and it will cost $4bn to $5bn to decommission those sites responsibly. Without quick action by state officials, Colorado taxpayers may be on the hook to foot the remaining $3bn.

Massive water main breaks in Atlanta this month forced a boil water advisory and citywide shutdown.

Large parts of South Carolina could be submerged by water as sea levels rise because of climate change. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that by the year 2100, global sea levels could rise by up to 3.6 feet if greenhouse gas emissions are not mitigated. It added that a rise of about 6.6 feet “cannot be ruled out.”

Norfolk Southern Corp. recently announced it will pay more than $300 million to resolve investigations by three US agencies in the aftermath of a catastrophic train derailment last year that contaminated the town of East Palestine, Ohio with toxic chemicals. $40 million of the total will go to long-term monitoring of water contamination.

The world’s oceans – already being pushed into an extreme new state because of the climate crisis – are now facing a “triple threat” of extreme heating, oxygen loss and acidification, according to research. These three threats have been spurred by the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, the study found, with about a fifth of the world’s ocean surface being particularly vulnerable to the three threats hitting at once. (Research by AGU Advances, reported in The Guardian.)

Nearly 19% of water systems tested in PA contain PFAS levels above new EPA standards.

It is often said that it takes about 12 times as much water to grow an avocado as it does a tomato. That’s why avocado growing is a highly controversial enterprise, and “avocado militias” are forming in areas of Mexico where water is scarce. The Guardian.

The Politics of PFAS

Wisconsin Republicans are withholding $125m designated for cleanup of widespread PFAS contamination in drinking water and have said they will only release the funds in exchange for immunity for polluters. Full story.

More on Rising Sea Levels

The world’s oceans are rising, and every year seawater reaches farther inland, which poses an ever-increasing threat to homes, businesses and critical infrastructure. By 2030, the number of critical buildings and facilities at risk of routine and repeat flooding along US coastlines is expected to grow by 20% compared to 2020 conditions. Hundreds of US homes, schools and government buildings will face repeated flooding by 2050 due to rising sea levels, a study has found, disrupting the lives of millions of Americans. Nearly 3 million people live in the 703 US coastal communities at risk of critical infrastructure flooding as early as 2050.

Water inequality on the Colorado River

by Jonathan Thompson

For the last couple of decades, water managers in southern Nevada have promoted a plethora of conservation measures, from fixing leaks in the vast system of pipes snaking beneath Las Vegas to encouraging reduced-flow faucets to banning ornamental turf. Golf courses are irrigated with treated wastewater, and water-gulping swamp coolers are discouraged. All this has helped Nevada stay within tight limits on how much it can draw from the Colorado River, bringing per capita consumption down to just over 100 gallons per day — about one-fourth of what it was in 1991.

But the sacrifices aren’t shared equally. A few miles off the Las Vegas Strip, for example, on the far edge of a golf course and residential development, sits a cluster of red-tile-roofed buildings. With its athletic club, tennis court, pool, lawns and grandiose structures, you might mistake it for a small private college or exclusive resort. In fact, this complex is a single-family residence that belonged to the Sultan of Brunei until November of last year, when a company associated with tech-company founder Jeffrey Berns paid $25 million for it. The home, if you can call it that, is also Las Vegas’ largest water user, guzzling 13 million gallons in 2022 — more than 300 times what the average resident consumes. Run down the list of the Las Vegas Valley Water District’s top 100 users, and you’ll see more of the same: While most residents are increasingly thrifty with their water, a select few — often associated with multimilliondollar homes — are binging on the stuff.

Call it water inequality, or the growing disparity in water consumption across the Colorado River Basin. Agriculture uses far more water than cities, and some crops are thirstier than others; Scottsdale’s per capita consumption is nine times that of Tucson’s; California’s Imperial Irrigation District pulls about 10 times more water from the river than all of Nevada; and the Sultan of Brunei’s Las Vegas estate sucks up 35,000 gallons each day. Meanwhile, nearly one-third of the Navajo Nation’s households lack running water altogether, and residents there use as little as 10 gallons daily.

High Country News

Water News for May 2024

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)  finalized Congressionally-mandated energy-efficiency standards for a range of residential water heaters to save American households approximately $7.6 billion per year on their energy and water bills, while significantly cutting energy waste and harmful carbon pollution. The final standards for residential water heaters align with recommendations from various stakeholders, including efficiency and environmental advocates, the Consumer Federation of America, and a leading U.S. water heater manufacturer. The standards would require the most common-sized electric water heaters to achieve efficiency gains with heat pump technology, helping to accelerate the deployment of this cost-effective, clean energy technology while also reducing strain on the electric grid. Over 30 years  these updated standards are expected to save Americans $124 billion on their energy bills and reduce 332 million metric tons of dangerous carbon dioxide emissions—equivalent to the combined annual emissions of nearly 43 million homes. Energy.gov.

On May 2, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced $3 billion from President Biden’s Investing in America agenda to help every state and territory identify and replace lead service lines, preventing exposure to lead in drinking water.

Each year, drinking water systems in the U.S. and Canada experience about 260,000 water main breaks, incurring an estimated $2.6B annually in maintenance and repair costs.

“Texas governor Greg Abbott’s strategy to deter immigration isn’t just harming people and costing billions – it’s ruining the Rio Grande’s ecosystem.” One scientist said it could take hundreds of years for nature to repair itself.” The governor has squandered $11 billion in Texas taxpayer dollars and has nothing but damage to the Rio Grande’s ecoystem to show for it. The Guardian.

Good News for Groundwater in California.  Water Year 2023 is the first year since 2019 that there has been a reported increase in groundwater storage. A significant reduction in groundwater pumping in 2023 also led to favorable groundwater conditions, including a decrease in land subsidence, or sinking of the land. Some areas that had previously experienced subsidence actually saw a rebound (uplift) in ground surface elevation from reduced pumping in the deeper aquifers and refilling of groundwater storage.

Severe floods in southern Brazil have caused the deaths of hundreds in what has been called the worst ever climate catastrophe. Streets in several towns have turned into rivers.

Vermont is poised to pass a measure forcing major polluting companies to help pay for damages caused by the climate crisis. It would make Vermont the first state to hold fossil fuel companies liable for planet-heating pollution. “If you contributed to a mess, you should play a role in cleaning it up,” one campaigner said.

A study found evidence that termites, when building their nests, are guided mainly by water evaporation that allows them to identify the regions of the structure with the largest curvature. How they work this out is largely a mystery. Nature Italy.

Is it safe to drink from the hose?

Souce: Family Safety and Health.

After Decades of Disinformation, the US Finally Begins Regulating PFAS Chemicals

by Derrick Z. Jackon, Fellow

Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it would regulate two forms of PFAS contamination under Superfund laws reserved for “the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites.” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said the action will ensure that “polluters pay for the costs to clean up pollution threatening the health of communities.”

That was an encore to the Food and Drug Administration announcing in February that companies will phase out food packaging with PFAS wrappings and the mid-April announcement by Regan that the EPA was establishing the first-ever federal limits on PFAS in drinking water. At that time, he declared, “We are one huge step closer to finally shutting off the tap on forever chemicals once and for all.”

One can forever hope the tap will be eventually shut, since it took seemingly forever for the nation to begin to crack down on this class of per-and polyfluoroalkyl synthetic chemicals. The chemical bonds of PFAS, among the strongest ever created, resulted in an incredible ability to resist heat, moisture, grease and stains. PFAS chemicals seemed like miracle substances in the 20th-century quest for convenience. They became ubiquitous in household furnishings, cookware, cosmetics, and fast-food packaging, and a key component of many firefighting foams.

The bonds are so indestructible they would impress Superman. They don’t break down in the environment for thousands of years, hence the “forever” nickname. Unfortunately for humans, the same properties represent Kryptonite.

Today, the group of chemicals known as PFAS is the source of one of the greatest contaminations of drinking water in the nation’s history. Flowing from industrial sites, landfills, military bases, airports, and wastewater treatment discharges, PFAS chemicals, according to the United States Geological Survey, are detectable in nearly half our tap water. Other studies suggest that a majority of the US population drinks water containing PFAS chemicals—as many as 200 million people, according to a 2020 peer-reviewed study conducted by the Environmental Working Group.

PFAS chemicals are everywhere

No one escapes PFAS chemicals. They make it into the kitchen or onto the dining room table in the form of non-stick cookware, microwave popcorn bags, fast-food burger wrappers, candy wrappers, beverage cups, take-out containers, pastry bags, French-fry and pizza boxes. They reside throughout homes in carpeting, upholstery, paints, and solvents.

They are draped on our bodies in “moisture-wicking” gym tights, hiking gear, yoga pants, sports bras, and rain and winter jackets. They are on our feet in waterproof shoes and boots. Children have PFAS in baby bedding and school uniforms. Athletes of all ages play on PFAS on artificial turf. PFAS chemicals are on our skin and gums through eye, lip, face cosmetics, and dental floss. Firefighters have it in their protective clothing.

As a result, nearly everyone in the United States has detectable levels of PFAS in their bodies. There is no known safe level of human exposure to these chemicals. They are linked to multiple cancers, decreased fertility in women, developmental delays in children, high cholesterol, and damage to the cardiovascular and immune systems. A 2022 study by researchers from Harvard Medical School and Sichuan University in China estimated that exposure to one form of PFAS (PFOS, for perfluorooctane sulfonic acid), may have played a role in the deaths of more than 6 million people in the United States between 1999 and 2018.

As sweeping as PFAS contamination is, exposures in the United States are also marked by clear patterns of environmental injustice and a betrayal to military families. An analysis by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that people of color and low-income people were more likely to live near non-military sources of PFAS contamination than wealthier, white people.

Another study by UCS found that 118 of 131 military bases had PFAS contamination concentrations at least 10 times higher than federal risk levels. A federal study last year found a higher risk of testicular cancer for Air Force servicemen engaged in firefighting with PFAS foams.

Tobacco-like disinformation

In the end, the whole nation was betrayed, in a manner straight out of the tobacco disinformation playbook. Behind the image of convenience, manufacturers long knew that PFAS chemicals were toxic. Internal documents uncovered over the years show how DuPont and 3M, the two biggest legacy makers of PFAS, knew back in the 1960s that the compounds built up in blood and enlarged the livers of laboratory animals. By 1970, a DuPont document referring to a PFAS chemical under its famed “Teflon” trademark said that it “is highly toxic when inhaled and moderately toxic when injected.”

By the late 1970s, DuPont was discovering that PFAS chemicals were affecting the liver of workers and that plant employees were having myocardial infarctions at levels “somewhat higher than expected.” But that did not stop the industry from downplaying the risk to workers.

One internal 3M document in 1980 claimed that PFAS chemicals have “a lower toxicity like table salt.” Yet, a study last year of documents by researchers at the University of California San Francisco and the University of Colorado found that DuPont, internally tracking the outcome of worker pregnancies in 1980 and 1981, recorded two cases of birth defects in infants. Yet, in 1981, in what the researchers determined was a “joint” communication to employees of DuPont and 3M, the companies claimed: “We know of no evidence of birth defects” at DuPont and were “not knowledgeable about the pregnancy outcome” of employees at 3M who were exposed to PFAS.

The same suppression and disinformation kept government regulators at bay for decades. The San Francisco and Colorado researchers found internal DuPont documents from 1961 to 1994 showing toxicity in animal and occupational studies that were never reported to the EPA under the Toxic Substances Control Act. As one example, DuPont, according to a 2022 feature by Politico’s Energy and Environment News, successfully negotiated in the 1960s with the Food and Drug Administration to keep lower levels of PFAS-laden food wrapping and containers on the market despite evidence of enlarged livers in laboratory rats.

A patchwork response

Eventually, the deception and lies exploded in the face of the companies, as independent scientists found more and more dire connections to PFAS in drinking water and human health and lawsuits piled up in the courts. Last year, 3M agreed to a settlement of between $10.5 billion and $12.5 billion for PFAS contamination in water systems around the nation. DuPont and other companies agreed to another $1.2 billion in settlements. That’s not nothing, but it is a relatively small price to pay for two industrial behemoths that have been among the Fortune 500 every year since 1955.

In the last two decades, the continuing science on PFAS chemicals and growing public concern has led to a patchwork of individual apparel and food companies to say they will stop using PFAS in clothes and wrapping. Some states have enacted their own drinking water limits and are moving forward with legislation to restrict or ban products containing PFAS. In 2006, the EPA began a voluntary program in which the leading PFAS manufacturers in the United States agreed to stop manufacturing PFOA, one of the most concerning forms of PFAS.

But companies had a leisurely decade to meet commitments. Even as companies negotiated, a DuPont document assumed coziness with the EPA. “We need the EPA to quickly (like first thing tomorrow) say the following: Consumer products sold under the Teflon brand are safe. . .there are no human health effects to be caused by PFOA [a chemical in the PFAS family].”

Two years ago, 3M announced it will end the manufacture of PFAS chemicals and discontinue their application across its portfolio by the end of next year. But the company did so with an insulting straight face, saying on its products are “safe and effective for their intended uses in everyday life.”

EPA action finally, but more is needed

The nation can no longer accept the overall patchwork or industry weaning itself off PFAS at its own pace. The EPA currently plans to issue drinking water limits for six forms of PFAS and place two forms under Superfund jurisdiction. The Superfund designation gives the government its strongest powers to enforce cleanups that would be paid for by polluters instead of taxpayers.”

But there are 15,000 PFAS compounds, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. There is nothing to stop companies from trying to play around with other compounds that could also prove harmful. Cleaning up the PFAS chemicals that have already been allowed will take billions of dollars and water utilities around the country are already screaming, with some justification, that the federal government needs to provide more money than it is offering. And even the Superfund designation does not actually ban their use.

It would be better if the United States were to follow the lead of the European Union which is now considering a ban or major restrictions on the whole class of chemicals, fearing that “without taking action, their concentrations will continue to increase, and their toxic and polluting effects will be difficult to reverse.”

The effects are scary to quantify. Regan said in his drinking water announcement that the new rules would improve water quality for 100 million people and “prevent thousands of deaths and reduce tens of thousands of serious illnesses across the country.” A draft EPA economic analysis last year predicted that tight standards could save more than 7,300 lives alone from bladder cancer, kidney cancer and cardiovascular diseases, and avoid another 27,000 non-fatal cases of those diseases.

That makes it high time that the federal government borrow from DuPont’s arrogant assumption that it could push around the EPA. We need the EPA to quickly (like first thing tomorrow) say the following: Consumer products with PFAS are not safe and are causing unacceptable environmental consequences. We are shutting off the tap on ALL of them.”

How to Take Care of your Private Water Well

Here is some advice for private well owners extracted from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Illinois State Water Survey (ISWS).

Most private wells which are properly constructed and maintained provide safe water for years. However, contamination can occur due to improper construction, poor maintenance, or releases of contaminants into the well’s aquifer. Many contaminants cannot be detected by sight, taste, or smell. Even if there is no indication of problems with the water, it is the well owner’s responsibility to properly maintain the well and regularly test it for potential contaminants to ensure the safety of their drinking water. 

People should be reminded regularly that testing is an essential part of protecting your drinking water and in being a good steward of the water supply. Along with testing, being informed by understanding how your well works, where your water comes from, and how to take care of your water system is the best way to protect your family’s drinking water and health.

Potential contaminants in private wells include:  

• Bacteria
• Nitrate/nitrite
• Metals
• Pesticides
• Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
• Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS, often referred to as “forever chemicals”)

Contamination may come from man made or natural sources and can cause a variety of health effects, ranging from developmental problems in children to a risk of cancer. Authorities recommends testing for bacteria (known as a total coliform test) and nitrate/nitrite every year and testing for metals every 3 years.

Most local health departments can provide well-owners with an affordable sampling kit for total coliform and nitrate/nitrite testing. Commercial labs are available for metals testing.

Testing for other chemicals such as VOCs, pesticides, and PFAS may be recommended if such contamination has been found in the area. This testing is only available from commercial labs and can be very expensive. If a well-owner is concerned about the possibility of contamination from VOCs, pesticides, or PFAS, testing through a commercial laboratory is in order, and if treatment is needed, advice can be had from appropriate state agencies and/or water treatment professionals.

Even if no contaminants are found, wells should still be inspected every year to make sure the well remains sealed and clear of debris, including yard waste. Look for damage to the well cap and cracks in the above-ground portion of the well casing. It is also important for well owners to maintain their septic system by following these guidelines:  

• Do not dispose of kitchen grease or household chemicals in the sink
• Do not flush personal hygiene products besides toilet paper  
• Pump septic tanks every three to five years. 

Finally, record keeping is important. Keep records of all testing and all work done on the well.

People who live in cities can depend on the city water department to keep an eye on things.  If you have a well, you are the water department.

Reference Source.

Leading Water News Stories for April 2024

Without question, the month’s leading water story was the EPA’s announcement of the establishment of enforceable for PFAS.

“A huge victory for public health”

The EPA has published its National Primary Drinking Water Regulation for six PFAS chemicals. The ruling includes Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCL), the legally enforceable limits, and MCL Goals for six PFAS chemicals.

The rule is expected to take effect in 2027 and requires public water systems to monitor and notify the public of the levels of these PFAS in water supplies. The rule also allows public water systems five years to reduce PFAS exposure if they exceed these MCLs and implement solutions by 2029.

This is a significant achievement.

Full text of the EPA announcement is on the Pure Water Gazette website.

New Mexico’s rivers, which include the Rio Grande, Gila, San Juan and Pecos, are America’s most threatened waterways, according to a new report. This is largely due to a 2023 US supreme court decision that left more than 90% of the state’s surface waters without federal protections from industrial pollution, according to state officials.

Consumer Reports has found unhealthy levels of pesticides in about 20% of US produce and The Guardian detailed the six fruits and vegetables with the highest pesticide risk – blueberries, bell peppers, potatoes, watermelons, green beans, and kale and mustard greens.

Ocean waves crashing on the world’s shores emit more PFAS into the air than the world’s industrial polluters, new research has found, raising concerns about environmental contamination and human exposure along coastlines.

The EPA has been asked to address a “long-ignored health crisis” in Iowa drinking water stemming from dangerously high nitrate levels. According to a legal petition filed by environmental and health advocacy groups last week, “For decades, Northeast Iowa residents have been exposed to dangerous levels of nitrate contaminated water. As the state reckons with high cancer levels and ongoing pollution regulation rollbacks, federal action is needed to safeguard the right to clean water. EPA must exercise emergency authority to hold polluters accountable and deliver safe drinking water in Iowa.”

The mayor of Paris expressed confidence that water quality in the river Seine will allow Olympic swimming.

In Mexico, angry subsistence farmers are staging a revolt against the thirsty avocado orchards of corporate farmers.

Just 56 companies are responsible for more than 50% of the world’s plastic pollution, according to a study published in Science Advances.  The top five polluters were the Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Danone and Altria, accounting for 24% of the total branded count.

Because of extreme heat and severe drought, several major cities in Mexico are facing a shortage in their water supply.

The U.S. government, in what an attorney says is a “monumental admission,” said last year that it caused injury to thousands of people on the Hawaiian island of Oahu when jet fuel from its storage facility leaked into the drinking water system.

Perrier has been ordered to destroy two million bottles of water after bacteria “of faecal origin” was discovered in one of its wells in Gard, in southern France.

PFAS Basics.  The Significance of the EPA’s Recently Imposed Limits on PFAS Levels in Drinking Water

 Extracted from a Statement from Guardian Editor Georgia Warren

April 2024

With so many big, splashy headlines fighting for our attention every day, it’s easy to miss those vital stories that build drip by drip, slowly over many years.

Falling into that bucket this week was the news that the US government has imposed the first-ever limits on levels of PFAS in our drinking water. The Guardian has been aggressively covering the health threat posed by PFAS for years, including a year-long investigation with Consumer Reports that revealed the extent to which these so-called “forever chemicals” have permeated US drinking water supplies.

For those who haven’t been following this story, this acronym masks a dangerous issue that everyone with a human body should be aware of.

OK, so what are PFAS?
PFAS (short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of about 15,000 human-made chemical compounds used widely in manufacturing to make products resistant to water, stains or heat – meaning they’re in everything from aerospace engineering components to takeout containers. Also known as “forever chemicals”, PFAS are unable to break down naturally in the environment or in our bodies.

Why should we care about them?
In recent years, scientists have discovered that exposure to PFAS is linked to a myriad of serious health problems, including cancer, obesity and birth defects. While many of the vast number of PFAS compounds remain unstudied, it is understood today that any exposure to some of the known highly toxic varieties is considered a health and cancer risk.

Are we all being exposed to these chemicals?
In short: yes – everywhere, all the time. In the past two months alone, the Guardian has published stories revealing that PFAS are entering our bodies via sources as disparate as bandages, artificial turf, plastic sandwich baggies and household dust. However, our biggest exposure to PFAS is via our food and water – which takes us to this week’s big news.

What happened with PFAS this week?
On Wednesday, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced legally enforceable drinking water limits for a group of the most dangerous PFAS compounds, after years of issuing only advisories. All US water providers will soon have to test their water and then install treatment systems that can filter PFAS if the results exceed EPA limits.

Is the PFAS problem solved then?
Public health advocates say it’s a great step – but not enough, as drinking water represents only about 20% of human PFAS exposure. Diet is likely a larger problem, as PFAS enter our food system via packaging, storage and machinery in factories, as well as during the farming process via contaminated water and sewage sludge used as fertilizer.

Is there hope for further action?
According to reporter Tom Perkins, who has been leading our PFAS coverage and provided this excellent analysis on the state of play following the EPA’s announcement this week: “Where there’s most hope is at the state level, where legislatures have started banning PFAS for all non-essential uses. It’s already happening in Maine and Minnesota. In turn, that creates market pressure on companies to stop using the chemicals altogether, because what are you going to do: produce shoes that can be sold in Mississippi but not in Maine? That wouldn’t make any sense.” Indeed, 3M, one of the world’s largest producers of the chemicals, announced last year that it would no longer make the compounds, citing in part the regulatory and legal environment.

That’s a lot of information: it seems the Guardian has really been on top of this issue.
Indeed. According to environment editor Mark Oliver: “In 2019, we launched a series called Toxic America, inspired by the idea that compared with the EU and other places, US safeguards and regulations around the threat of toxic chemicals were weaker. It’s one of those times where our outsider lens on the US can be helpful for how we see issues that perhaps other outlets aren’t seeing with as much alarm. We got a lot of engagement from readers on that series, and they helped us fund more journalism in that area. We’ve been in the vanguard of coverage around this ever since.”

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