United States

 

Key Links EPA's website on PFASs EPA’s PFAS Strategic Roadmap  EPA's Actions to address PFASs

Recent Initiatives In November 2022, EPA released a report documenting the Agency’s first year of progress under the 2021 PFAS Strategic Roadmap and highlighting key actions ahead.

 

Harmful per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are an urgent public health and environmental issue facing communities across the United States. In April 2021, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael S. Regan created the EPA Council on PFAS and charged it with developing a coordinated strategy to protect human health and the environment from PFAS. 

In October 2021, EPA released its PFAS Strategic Roadmap, which highlights concrete actions the Agency will take across a range of environmental media and EPA program offices to protect people and the environment from PFAS contamination. The Roadmap included target dates to achieve each milestone and is guided by three primary goals:

• Research. Investing in research, development, and innovation to increase the understanding of PFAS exposures and toxicities, human health and ecological effects, and effective interventions that incorporate the best-available science.
• Restrict. Pursuing a comprehensive approach to proactively prevent PFAS from entering air, land, and water at levels that can adversely impact human health and the environment.
• Remediate. Broadening and accelerating the cleanup of PFAS contamination to protect human health and ecological systems.

Since the Roadmap’s release in October 2021, EPA has taken a number of key actions to advance progress toward these goals.  These actions, along with milestones EPA will achieve in the near future, are summarized in a progress report released in November 2022, and include the following:

• Proposed to designate two PFAS as CERCLA hazardous substances. . If finalized, this will be a critical step toward increasing transparency around releases of PFAS and holding polluters accountable for cleaning up their contamination.
• Released drinking water health advisories. Acting in accordance with EPA’s mission to protect public health and keep communities and public health authorities informed when new science becomes available, the Agency issued drinking water health advisories for four PFAS.
• Laid the foundation for enhancing data on PFAS.  This included two orders under EPA’s National PFAS Testing Strategy requiring companies to conduct PFAS testing, and nationwide sampling for 29 PFAS in drinking water starting in 2023.
• Began distributing $10 billion in funding to address emerging contaminants under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL). EPA is making transformational investments in cleaning up PFAS and other emerging contaminants in water, especially in small or disadvantaged communities.
• Expanded the scientific understanding of PFAS. The Agency issued more than 30 scientific publications by EPA researchers and released EPA’s PFAS Thermal Treatment Database.
• Translated the latest science into EPA’s cross-agency PFAS efforts. This included updating EPA’s contaminated site cleanup tables, developing new PFAS methods and conducting toxicity assessments, and issuing draft national recommended water quality criteria to protect aquatic life.
• Engaged with the public. EPA’s PFAS work was informed by public webinars, stakeholder meetings, Congressional testimony, and engagement with EPA’s federal advisory committees.

More details regarding these actions and others are available on EPA’s website on PFAS. EPA is committed to leveraging the full range of statutory authorities to better understanding and addressing risks from PFAS.

 

Additional Ressources

• PFAS Explained 
• EPA's Data and tools 
• U.S. State Resources about PFAS 
• PFAS information from CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)