N.J. sets stringent standard on cancer-causing chemical PFOA in drinking water

The Christie administration said Wednesday the state will regulate levels of two contaminants in drinking water that have been largely unregulated across the country but which are quite common and have been linked to cancer and various other illnesses.

The maximum allowable levels being proposed for the chemicals PFOA and PFNA would be the most stringent standards in the nation. The state Department of Environmental Protection is accepting the standards proposed by a scientific water quality panel that had studied the issue and made the recommendation more than a year ago.

“Setting protective standards for these contaminants continues New Jersey’s long tradition of being a national leader in using strong science to ensure residents receive the highest quality drinking water,” DEP Commissioner Bob Martin said during an announcement about the new standards.

The PFOA standard will be 14 parts per trillion, and the PFNA standard will be 13 parts per trillion.

Since 2007 the state had less stringent health advisory standards of 40 parts per trillion for PFOA, but did not require water suppliers to meet that standard.

The chemical perfluorooctanoic acid — also called PFOA or C8 — has been used to make stain-resistant carpets, waterproof clothing, non-stick cooking pans and other products that make life less messy. It has spread so far through the environment that it can be found everywhere from the fish in the Delaware River to polar bears in the Arctic — and some drinking water in New Jersey.

Sampling conducted by the state in 2006 and 2009 showed PFOA at levels above the state's health advisory standard of 40 parts per trillion in Garfield and 11 other systems.

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More recently, the federal Environmental Protection Agency detected PFOA in levels of at least 20 parts per billion in 14 drinking water systems, including Ridgewood Water, Fair Lawn, Garfield, Wallington and Hawthorne.

The contaminant is found much more frequently in drinking water in New Jersey than in many other states. As more scientific studies provide increasing detail about the chemical's impact on human health, experts say even tiny traces in the water supply can pose a danger.

PFOA is linked to kidney and testicular cancer, as well as high cholesterol, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, pregnancy-induced hypertension and other illnesses in a still-growing body of research. There are also probable links to low birth weight and decreased immune responses.

The state’s Drinking Water Quality Institute, which researched and then proposed the new standards to the DEP, “has worked to develop recommendations that will protect the citizens of New Jersey from these contaminants based on the scientific literature, as well as on detection and treatment strategies that are available,” said Dr. Keith Cooper, the institute’s chairman.

Environmental groups and others applauded the new standards, but said the state was too slow in adopting them.

“It's great news that the DEP has actually done this,” said Assemblyman Tim Eustace, D-Maywood, chairman of the State Assembly's environmental committee. “But it’s sort of irresponsible” that the state didn’t act more quickly, he said, since some communities, including Fair Lawn, “have double the amount of the new standard.”

PFOA is so prevalent now that it can be found in the blood serum of most people in the United States. People are exposed to it not only through stain-resistant carpets and waterproof clothing, but fast-food wrappers and microwave popcorn bags. Infants can be exposed through breast milk or formula prepared with contaminated water.

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PFOA was first manufactured in 1947 by 3M, and, in the 1950s it began selling the chemical to DuPont, which used it to make the non-stick compound Teflon.

It is highly stable, so once in the air, it can travel long distances without breaking down, which helps explain why it has even shown up in remote areas such as the polar ice caps, far from human development.

It cannot be removed from water by boiling.

PFOA seems more likely to contaminate water systems that use wells drilled into groundwater aquifers, such as those of Garfield, Fair Lawn and Ridgewood Water, which supplies drinking water to 60,000 people in Glen Rock, Midland Park, Ridgewood and Wyckoff. 

Research indicates that filters made of granular activated carbon can remove PFOA from water. But because most of the affected water systems are dependent on wells rather than a single main treatment facility, it can be expensive for the utilities to install filter systems at each well. Ridgewood Water alone operates 56 wells.

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Less affected are systems that rely on surface water, like rivers and reservoirs, including the reservoir system operated along the Hackensack River by Suez, and the treatment facility that the Passaic Valley Water Commission uses to pump water out of the Passaic River. 

“Suez has tested for these contaminants in its New Jersey operations,” said company spokeswoman Billie Gallo, “and we’ve never detected PFOA or PFNA levels at or above the governor’s newly proposed” maximum levels. “Therefore, we don’t anticipate any treatment changes.”

“We applaud the administration’s move toward ensuring safer drinking water for all New Jersey residents,” Gallo said.

In 2006, the EPA asked the eight major producers of PFOA to eliminate the product by 2015. By 2010, those manufacturers had decreased emissions of the contaminant at their plants by 95 percent. DuPont has said it phased out PFOA by 2013.

The state has investigated water contamination by PFOA from the DuPont Chambers Works plant, along the Delaware River in Pennsville, now operated by its spinoff Chemours.

Under state and federal oversight, Chemours is installing a containment wall to prevent the spread of PFOA and other chemicals from groundwater to the river, augmenting a pump-and-treat system that has been in operation for years.

The company has installed miniature treatment systems on dozens of off-site private wells in the area. Operators of affected public municipal wells have also taken steps to protect their supplies.

In March, Joint Base McGuire/Dix/Lakehurst confirmed that PFOA and PFOS, ingredients of a firefighting foam used at the air base, had contaminated drinking water at the base, and at several wells off the base.

Earlier this year DuPont and its spinoff Chemours agreed to pay $671 million to settle 3,550 lawsuits involving contamination of drinking water supplies with PFOA that leaked from a DuPont facility in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

PFNA, the other chemical coming under new DEP regulation, was used as a processing aid in the manufacture of high-performance plastics that are resistant to harsh chemicals and high temperatures.

PFNA above the recommended new level has been detected in 11 public water systems and some private wells in Gloucester and Salem counties near the Delaware River.

The DEP held a public comment period on the new standards, which ended Oct. 6, and the agency is reviewing the comments, said DEP spokesman Larry Hajna. The new standards will be adopted when the agency publishes its response to the comments in the New Jersey Register.

But there will be a phase-in period for the standards to actually take effect.