PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania has enacted a limit on two PFAS chemicals in drinking water, marking the first time the state has set its own limits instead of adopting a federal standard.
The state's Department of Environmental Protection in November proposed the rule that would limit perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, or PFOS, and perfluorooctanoic acid, or PFOA, to 18 parts per trillion and 14 parts per trillion respectively, after sampling performed on more than 400 public water systems in Pennsylvania found detectable levels of those chemicals in more than a quarter of them.
PFAS — shorthand for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — is the umbrella term for about 6,000 man-made chemicals embedded in many products since the 1930s and 1940s.
