Water Sector News
A snapshot of clean water stories from publications around the country, updated daily!
2 ways of knowing if there are PFAS in your drinking water
Ever since the US started churning out per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the 1940s, these long-lived toxic chemicals have been accumulating everywhere humans have trodden.
Since then, these compounds have leached from industrial facilities and trash systems into our waterways, making our drinking supply one of the main ways forever chemicals are getting into our bodies.
If you’re now eyeing your glass of water suspiciously, know that there are steps you can take to find out if there are PFAS in that H2O, and lower the risk of exposure for you and your family.
Your water might have PFAS
Between 2016 and 2021, the US Geological Survey sampled the water from 716 different taps across the country and found that an estimated 45 percent of tested sites contained at least one kind of forever chemical. The study is the broadest of its kind in the US, making its main finding the best risk estimate we have for PFAS contamination in our drinking water.