In December, Maryland environmental officials began testing drinking water in a set of schools and daycare centers served by wells for harmful PFAS compounds.
So far, out of 200 schools and daycares tested, officials have identified 36 with levels of PFAS chemicals that exceed federal limits, spurring distributions of bottled water as students return to the classroom for a new school year.
Here’s what you need to know:
Why am I hearing about this now?
With growing awareness about the dangers of PFAS compounds, Maryland has embarked on a testing regimen to determine their prevalence in the state.
Previously, the Maryland Department of the Environment tested drinking water at its community water systems, which serve about 89% of the state’s population.
Some 64 of those 437 water systems — about 15% — are above the newly established federal PFAS limits, which are 4 parts per trillion for certain PFAS and 10 parts per trillion for others.
Most Maryland schools are served by those larger water systems and MDE has urged those systems to inform their customers about PFAS detected above the limits, wrote MDE spokesman Jay Apperson in a statement.
Late last year, MDE began a new round of testing at schools and daycares that aren’t hooked up to those systems, and use their own well water. The effort began in Wicomico County in December, and occurred statewide this summer, Apperson wrote.
The 36 impacted schools include public and private schools, as well as community colleges and daycares. Twenty-five of them are public schools. The Baltimore Sun has identified affected schools in Baltimore, Harford and Howard counties thus far. MDE is still receiving some data, so the number of schools impacted could increase, Apperson wrote.
The agency is advising schools above Environmental Protection Agency standards to notify parents about the results and create a remediation plan, according to Apperson.
“We are urging schools with the highest levels to find an alternate source of water, which could include bottled water, as soon as possible,” Apperson wrote.
Back up … what exactly are PFAS?
Called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, they are a large class of manmade chemicals manufactured extensively for products such as nonstick pans, rain gear, stain resistant carpets and firefighting foams, dating back to the 1940s.
PFAS is a broad category that includes thousands of chemicals, known for their heat resistant and water repellent properties. They have earned the nickname “forever chemicals” because of incredibly strong carbon and fluorine bonds, which allow the compounds to persist in the environment years after they are released. They also can build up in the human body.
Though some PFAS compounds have been phased out because they are linked to health effects such as cancer, including PFOA and PFOS, others remain in use, including new chemicals created to replace them.
What are the health impacts of PFAS?
People who consume drinking water with high levels of PFAS won’t see an immediate effect, unlike drinking water contaminated with, say, E. coli bacteria, which could quickly cause gastrointestinal symptoms.
Elevated exposure to certain PFAS over time increases a person’s risk of a number of health concerns, including kidney and testicular cancer, high cholesterol, changes in liver enzymes, lowered antibody response to some vaccines as well as problems with childbirth, according to the Centers for Disease Control.
PFAS regulations for drinking water have evolved only recently.
In April, the Environmental Protection Agency established new limits on six PFAS in drinking water, including PFOA, PFOS and compounds known as Gen X chemicals.
For PFOA and PFOS, EPA stated that no amount is technically safe for drinking, but the enforceable limit for public drinking water systems is 4 parts per trillion. Previously, under a regulation from 2016, there was no enforceable limit, and the recommendation was to keep PFOA and PFOS concentrations below 70 parts per trillion.
Now, public water systems are racing to comply with the EPA’s new rule by 2029. The EPA has estimated that between 6% and 10% of the 66,000 public drinking water systems subject to its rule may have to take action, including by installing treatment technology to ensure that the water they send to homes and businesses meets the EPA’s limits.
Some organizations have filed legal challenges against the EPA’s rules, including trade organizations representing water utilities and chemical companies in addition to the Chemours Company, which makes PFAS.
How prevalent are PFAS?
Unfortunately, PFAS are ubiquitous. You can be exposed to PFAS in a number of ways, including by: drinking contaminated water, eating contaminated fish, eating food with PFAS packaging, using PFAS-treated products or inhaling contaminated soil or dust.
Military bases and fire training facilities have been among the sources of contamination, due to the use of firefighting foams containing PFAS, as have industrial sites that produce PFAS for consumer use.
U.S. studies have shown that most Americans have been exposed to at least some PFAS, and have PFAS in their blood, according to the CDC.
But as the production and use of specific PFAS compounds, namely PFOA and PFOS, has declined, so, too, have the levels found in people’s bloodstreams, by 70% and 85% respectively from 1999 to 2018.
“However, as PFOS and PFOA are phased out and replaced, people may be exposed to other PFAS,” notes the website for the CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
This article has been updated to correct the number of schools and daycares tested by the Maryland Department of Environment after the agency provided updated numbers Tuesday.
