Does Regulating
PFAS Represent
a Meaningful
BY
KATHERINE
Opportunity for
ALFREDO,
CHAD
SEIDEL
AND
HEALTH RISK
AMLAN
GHOSH
REDUCTION in
Drinking Water?
USEPA HAS MADE POSITIVE PRELIMINARY DETERMINATIONS to regulate two per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) compounds — perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and
perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) — in drinking water. However, drinking water regulations
must meet a qualitative “meaningful opportunity” threshold in health risk reduction. Using our
Relative Health Index (RHI) metric, we quantify ranges of potential health risk reductions that
could be achieved from state and federal PFAS regulatory levels and compare them to previous
regulatory determinations of other contaminants to create a quantifiable, comparable scale of
meaningful opportunity justifications. Our results demonstrate that the regulatory levels for
PFOA and PFOS alone will not achieve a national meaningful health risk reduction compared
with previously regulated contaminants.
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