As a water professional and a skier I should be celebrating the end of another above average snow season, but let’s not forget the responsibility we have when protecting this resource.
Surprisingly, I’m not talking about conservation. Recent news has me thinking about PFAS contamination. These man-made chemicals have been found in nearly half of the United States drinking water sources according to USGS.
On April 10 EPA published drinking water standards for six different PFAS, in which community water systems have five years to become compliant. Scientists are still discovering just how pervasive PFAS are. They do know these chemicals are transboundary travelers — being carried by air, water and food — that they bioaccumulate and compromise the thyroid, liver, kidneys, immune systems, and cause adverse reproductive and developmental outcomes and cancer.
According to an interview in The Tribune, water systems like Salt Lake City and Park City do not have treatment in place to remove PFAS from their contaminated sources. They could be forced to build treatments that would cost millions of dollars.
The National Rural Water Association reached a settlement with TYCO fire products, 3M, and Dupont for about $14 billion that will be distributed nationally to water systems for remediation of water supplies contaminated with PFAS. While this will initially save ratepayers and taxpayers money, we know that the cost of new treatment, maintenance, and disposal of the waste product will eventually be passed down to water users and will create a perpetual problem.
As a reminder, PFAS are man-made chemicals (12,000+), used in an array of consumer goods, that have found their way into drinking water, and into our bodies. Too often our comfort comes at the expense of natural resources, ecosystems, and the well-being of future generations.
According to SaferStates.org, 34 states have introduced policies addressing PFAS. Utah is not one of them, but I think Utah needs to consider taking this step in the Legislature to protect our growing Utah population from future health problems.
The new EPA standards will only get us so far, thus allowing exposure to PFAS to be indefinite. I propose that we stop contamination at the source. We can join states like California, Colorado, Maine, New Jersey and New York which are phasing out the sale of products that intentionally add PFAS where it is unnecessary. And let’s begin eliminating the production of more PFAS.
Meghan Newsome, Park City