EPA Releases New Regulatory Guidance for PFAS in Drinking Water

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) today formally released new regulatory guidance setting limits for six types of manufactured Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) chemicals that may be found in some drinking water. The new limits are set at 4 parts per trillion (ppt) for some of the most common PFAS categories found in parts of the US.  In addition, the US EPA has set limits of 10 ppt for three other PFAS contaminant categories that may be found in some drinking water. The US EPA will also now require public water systems to monitor for these PFAS and provide the public with information on the levels of PFAS in their drinking water by 2027. Spartanburg Water wishes to make sure that our customers have a general understanding of this new rule. We also want our customers to know that the water treated and supplied by Spartanburg Water has been being tested for PFAS since 2020 and that it is safe and reliable.

The new US EPA regulatory guidance addresses PFAS chemicals. PFAS are synthetic chemicals that have been manufactured and used by a broad range of industries since the 1940s. These chemicals have unique physical and chemical properties such as resistance to low and high temperatures, resistance to degradation and non-stick characteristics. These chemicals have been used in thousands of everyday products including non-stick pans, weather resistant clothing, cosmetics and food packaging. Because of decades of widespread use, PFAS has been detected worldwide in soil, air and water. 80 percent of PFAS environmental exposure has come from consumer products and manufacturing of these products while 20 percent or less of the exposure comes from drinking water.

The new limits, established by the US EPA, of 4ppt of these compounds is the equivalent of four drops of food coloring in 72 million gallons of water; the equivalent of over 100 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

The watersheds that help feed Spartanburg Water reservoirs are located in the Upstate and sampling of our actual water sources has found them to be free from industrial and other influences that may indicate the potential for PFAS contamination above the newly established limits.  

Spartanburg Water CEO Guy Boyle commented “Since 2020, Spartanburg Water has been periodically testing the source and finished water at our two active water treatment plants, R.B. Simms and Landrum Drinking Water Facilities as well as our third source water reservoir, Lake Blalock. This testing has indicated no level of PFAS has been found that exceeds the US EPA guidance.”  

Boyle added, “97 percent of all tests conducted have produced results indicating no detection was found to less than 1ppt and 100 percent of all tests that were conducted showed less than 1.3ppt.”    

In addition to our testing, sampling conducted by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC) has also indicated that none of these compounds were present. We continue to test and our testing as recent as February 2024 continues to indicate that none of these compounds are present in our treated drinking water.

The following US EPA and SCDHEC sites can be accessed with the following links and provide some additional information on the subject.

US EPA     https://www.epa.gov/pfas
SCDHEC  https://scdhec.gov/environment/polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas

“It is critically important that our customers know where their water comes from and that it is safe,” added Boyle. “Our number one priority is the safety of the drinking water that we treat.”

Spartanburg Water currently serves our customers by providing treatment to source water from the South Pacolet River and from Vaughn’s Creek in Landrum. Lake Bowen and Municipal Reservoir #1 are supplied by South Pacolet source water and is treated at the R.B. Simms plant while Vaughn’s Creek supplies source water to our Landrum plant. Our third reservoir, Lake Blalock, is supplied by both the North and South Pacolet, but Lake Blalock is not currently being used to supply water to customers.  

Spartanburg Water continues to test and effectively treat source water so that our community and our customers are provided with some of the safest and most reliable drinking water in the country.    

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