More cities are seeing PFAS pollution in drinking water. Here’s what Louisville found : Shots

ohio river sends billions Every day, gallons of water flow through a pumping station in Louisville, Kentucky, where the city utility absorbs it to turn it into tap water.

To make sure it tastes good and is safe to drink, a small team of scientists and technicians are constantly testing the water for pH, odor, heavy metals, and microbes.

But unlike many small municipal utilities across the US, Louisville Water Company routinely tests for PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances).

It’s a class of chemicals that have been used by manufacturers for decades to make things like nonstick pans, cosmetics, raincoats, food wrappers and firefighting foam.

Research studies have linked PFAS to health risks such as cancer, reduced immune system function, high cholesterol and developmental delays in children.

They are also known as “forever chemicals” because they are practically indestructible. Their strong chemical structures make them degrade incredibly slowly in the environment.

Today, they pollute soil and water sources around the world and can be found in the bloodstream of almost everyone in the U.S.

One type of PFAS that Louisville water technicians are tracking is HFPO-DA, though it’s probably better known by a trade name, GenX.

About a year ago, workers noticed an unexpected increase in GenX levels in a sample of raw, untreated water taken from the Ohio River for filtering and processing.

In water, PFAS concentrations are measured in parts per trillion. Last December they found GenX levels 15 times higher than the previous month: 52 parts per trillion versus 3.4 parts per trillion.

“One part per trillion is equal to one second in 32,800 years. Get your head around that, okay?” said Peter Goodman, director of water quality and research for the city utility.

Another way to think about it: One part per trillion would be equivalent to a drop within 20 Olympic swimming pools.

So the increased level is still quite low, he said.

But Goodman’s team was curious about what was going on. They transported the chemicals up the Ohio River, through Cincinnati and through the Appalachian forests, to a West Virginia factory some 400 miles upriver.

There, the Chemours company uses GenX to make fluoropolymer, a specialty plastic vital to the semiconductors that power our phones.

Its Washington Works facility near Parkersburg, West Virginia also has a notorious history of PFAS contamination.

An attorney, Robert Bilott, fought the plant’s previous owner, DuPont, in court and ultimately revealed that the company knew the type of PFAS it was using, called PFOA, was toxic, but it did not disclose that information.

DuPont settled various lawsuits claiming the chemicals permanently polluted the local environment, although the company has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

Chemours was spun off from DuPont in 2015.

What does the sudden surge in Louisville mean?

At Louisville Water Co., the team’s calculations ultimately showed that the December 2024 spike in GenX levels matches Chemours’ publicly available data about its chemical discharge into the Ohio River.

Still, Goodman told NPR he wasn’t worried about the safety of local customers — even with last year’s increase.

That’s because the risks posed by low PFAS concentrations are measured over a lifetime, he said. And recent data from Louisville shows that PFAS levels in the city’s drinking water have fallen within planned federal safety limits.

Additionally, water is a way for people to be exposed to PFAS, Goodman said. “Because you get a lot of these pollutants from packaging, from pre-packaged foods, cake mixes, weird things like, you know, popcorn cartons,” he said.

Chemours did not return NPR’s request for comment.

But in Chemours’ response to the lawsuit filed by a West Virginia environmental group, the company denied that their discharges are linked to Louisville’s GenX spike. (Louisville is not a party to the lawsuit.)

The company also argued that sampling data shows that GenX levels in the river and treated drinking water of downstream utilities are “indisputably safe.”

Louisville Water data showed that water samples taken in December 2024 had higher levels of GenX than in previous months.

But after specific treatment and filtering of the water, levels fell under new federal safety limits, which are not scheduled to go into effect until 2029.

The federal government has long regulated the levels of certain contaminants such as arsenic, E. coli and lead in drinking water.

But the EPA did not issue regulations regarding PFAS until 2024, during the final year of the Biden administration.

The new limits apply to six types of PFAS in drinking water. Starting in 2029, utilities exceeding the limit will be required to treat water to reduce pollution.

After Trump’s re-election, his new EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced that the agency would maintain regulations for only two types of PFAS, called PFOA and PFOS, but would lift restrictions on the other four types, including GenX.

Additionally, the EPA announced it will give water utilities two additional years until 2031 to comply with the remaining regulations due to the financial burden on rural water plants.

Many large and small utilities will likely need to invest in infrastructure to remove PFAS.

A federal study estimated that about 45% of American tap water contains at least one type of PFAS.

When it announced the final PFAS limits, the Biden administration estimated that up to 10% of the estimated 66,000 U.S. public drinking water systems affected by these rules could have PFAS levels so high that they would need to take action to reduce contamination.

PFAS removal will challenge water utilities

Under current federal environmental regulations, Chemours can do Release some chemicals into the Ohio River. But according to court filings and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it has repeatedly exceeded legal limits over several years.

That’s why the West Virginia River Coalition filed its lawsuit in 2024.

The EPA took enforcement action in 2023, when it said it found that Chemours’ West Virginia factory had repeatedly exceeded permit limits for two types of forever chemicals, GenX and PFOA.

But the West Virginia Rivers Coalition said in a court filing that the EPA’s consent order for Chemours “is not being pursued with diligence.”

Chemours declined to answer NPR’s questions, citing the ongoing lawsuit, except to say that Louisville’s “finished drinking water is safe for consumption” because PFAS levels are below the EPA’s regulatory limits, according to Louisville Water’s own website and annual water quality report. of cincinnati, which also originates from the ohio river,

As research continues on the health effects of PFAS exposure, environmental advocates say it is mandatory for companies to meet limits set by government permits.

“Environmental regulatory permitting is a license to pollute,” said Nick Hart, water policy director for the Kentucky Waterways Alliance.

“You’re allowing someone to put something into the atmosphere, into the water, into the soil that otherwise wouldn’t be there. And so when we talk about safe levels… stop using the word ‘safe,’ OK? That’s the maximum acceptable limit.”

It is possible to remove PFAS from drinking water. For example, Louisville’s utility is spending about $23 million to redesign its powdered activated carbon system, a method used to filter out PFAS.

But removing PFAS can be costly, especially for small, rural towns, Hart said. He said it’s easier and less expensive to prevent contaminants like PFAS from getting into a community’s drinking water supply than to remove it later.

In Chemours’ response to the lawsuit, the company acknowledged that is in violation of its current permit, but noted that it is working with government regulators on a final resolution.

Nevertheless, the federal judge in the case, Joseph Goodwin, decided that this was not fast enough.

In August, he ordered Chemours to immediately stop over-polluting. The company immediately filed an appeal.

The West Virginia River Coalition, which filed the lawsuit, declined to speak with NPR, but pointed to a news release in August on the judge’s decision.

“This is a win for public health and the Ohio River,” Autumn Crow, the organization’s deputy director, said in a statement. “The court recognized what communities have known for years: Chemours is polluting our waters and ignoring its legal obligations.”

In a court filing for the case, Goodman said elevated levels of GenX could make it more challenging for water utilities like Louisville to comply with federal regulations for safe drinking water.

With respect to Chemours specifically, Goodman told NPR that when government regulators issue the company’s next Granted, he wants them to take into account water treatment plants downstream.

“So what we do is manage the risk, and we start with the river,” he said. “It sounds weird, but source water protection – keeping stuff out of the river – is a big deal.”

This story comes from NPR’s health reporting partnership Louisville Public Media And kff health news,