Massachusetts regulators issue new standards for toxins

December 15, 2019

Read full article by Associated Press

“BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts state regulators have issued new standards for toxic compounds in drinking water.

Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, collectively called PFAS, have turned up in public water supplies and private wells around the country, and there is growing evidence that long-term exposure can lead to cancer and low infant birth weights…

Under Massachusetts’ new regulations, polluters must clean up contaminated soil and groundwater if the total concentration of six chemicals in PFAS reaches 20 parts per trillion, The Boston Globe reported. The new standards are slated to go into effect Dec. 27.

Regulators announced the same limit for drinking water, but those rules could still be revised. Those proposed regulations would require all public water systems to test for high PFAS concentrations and act to remove the contamination.

Other New England states have also been looking at the issue. In New Hampshire, a judge last month granted a temporary injunction requested by 3M and several others who opposed the state’s new standards that went into effect in October…

In Connecticut, a task force created by Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont recently issued a series of policy recommendations concerning the toxic chemicals, including testing water supplies across the state, reducing their sources in the environment, and cleaning up known contamination.”

This content provided by the PFAS Project.