West Virginia study shows 19 public water systems don't meet proposed PFAS standards

Dr. Matthew Christiansen, state health officer and commissioner, says the data is helping the state plan ahead in anticipation of new drinking water standards.

Photo courtesy of Western Virginia Water Authority

According to a recent news release from the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, over two dozen public water systems in West Virginia have detectable levels of so-called "forever chemicals." The test results revealed the presence of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds in the finished drinking water in 27 water systems across the state.

Among these systems, 19 had detections above at least one of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed regulatory standards. The study's scope included a total of 37 water systems in the state.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection are collaborating with the affected water systems to evaluate treatment processes and strategize the best approaches for removing these compounds. They are also working on identifying funding options to alleviate the burden on customers.

Dr. Matthew Christiansen, state health officer and commissioner of DHHR’s Bureau for Public Health, stated in a news release that "while a determination of risk for consumers cannot be made based on the preliminary results of this study, this data helps us plan for when final testing is complete and the EPA rules are finalized."

The EPA has proposed regulating certain PFAS compounds at a maximum level of 4 parts per trillion and requires public water systems to monitor and notify consumers if PFAS levels exceed regulation standards. The EPA expects to finalize this rule by the end of 2023.

Austin Keating is the editor of Remediation Technology, a BNP Media publication launched in Sept. 2022. Austin is from Mattoon, IL, and graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a degree in journalism. Following graduation in 2016, he worked as a science writer and videographer for the university’s supercomputing center. In 2018, Austin obtained a master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, where he was the campus correspondent for Planet Forward and a Comer scholar. He then served as an award-winning field editor for America's oldest continuously published magazine, Prairie Farmer, before joining BNP in 2021, becoming editor of SNIPS Magazine and the now discontinued Point of Beginning Magazine.