Tell the EPA: Communities Deserve to Know What's in Their Water

The EPA is proposing a new rule for monitoring PFAS chemicals in drinking water. That's good news. But the proposed reporting requirements are too weak. They'll miss contamination that's actually there.

We've seen this before. Weak PFAS reporting requirements once resulted in finding contamination in just 3.3% of water systems. Stronger testing and reporting found it in 34%.

We can’t allow the EPA to get away with half-baked measures when it comes to our health. Tell the EPA: Set strong reporting requirements for PFAS in public water systems.

Submit a public comment by August 31.

Tell the EPA to set strong testing and reporting requirements for PFAS in drinking water before the comment period closes August 31.

The EPA is proposing a new rule for monitoring a new type of PFAS in drinking water. That's good news, considering PFAS chemicals are extremely resistant to break down and linked to serious health impacts. But the proposed testing and reporting requirements are so weak, they could dramatically undercount how many public water systems are affected — meaning that millions of Americans could unknowingly be drinking water contaminated with PFAS.

We've seen this before. The last time the EPA set weak reporting requirements for PFAS, the data showed contamination in just 3.3% of water systems. When the EPA later required more accurate testing and reporting, that number jumped to 34%.

We can’t allow the EPA to get away with half-baked measures when it comes to our health.

Send a public comment to the EPA urging them to set strong reporting requirements for PFAS in public water systems — because communities deserve to know what’s in their water.

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Your Message

Subject Enact strong reporting requirements for PFAS in drinking water

Dear Ms. Bowden, Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OW–2023–0469 (UCMR 6)

Message Body

I'm writing to urge the EPA to strengthen the proposed testing rule for ultrashort chain PFAS in the Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 6).

I support the EPA's decision to begin testing for these chemicals for the first time. But the proposed reporting limits are too weak to give an accurate picture of how many communities are actually affected.

We've seen this play out before. When the EPA required only weak reporting limits for a previous group of PFAS under UCMR 3, national data showed contamination in just 3.3% of water systems. When stronger reporting limits were later used for UCMR 5, that number rose to 34%. Weak rules didn't mean the PFAS weren't there — they meant we didn't know about it.

Communities deserve accurate information about what's in their drinking water. I urge the EPA to adopt stronger, more sensitive testing and reporting requirements so that this critical national data can accurately prepare us to protect communities from the dangers of PFAS.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

[First Name] [Last Name]

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