The enforcement date is now active for the two PFAS chemicals designated as hazardous substances by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under Superfund (CERCLA/SARA). Enforcement went into effect on July 8, 2024, following the EPA’s final rule announcement in April that perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic (PFOS) are hazardous substances.

Superfund prioritizes the investigation, remediation, and monitoring of the nation’s most contaminated sites.  According to the EPA, the designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA enables the agency to use one of its strongest enforcement tools to compel polluters to pay for or conduct investigations and cleanup, rather than taxpayers. This designation will also allow for time critical actions as a tool to prevent delays in addressing PFAS contamination, reducing time available for PFOA and PFOS to migrate in water and soil that leads to increasing contamination. 

Entities are now required to immediately report releases of PFOA and PFOS meeting or exceeding the reportable quantity of one pound within a 24-hour period. The Superfund designation “enables the agency to use one of its strongest enforcement tools to compel polluters to pay for or conduct investigations and cleanup, rather than taxpayers.”

Merit Laboratories is a leading national PFAS environmental laboratory, analyzing drinking water, soil, wastewater, groundwater, and other sample matrices, including biosolids and sludge. Analytical methods performed by Merit for PFAS include drinking water by EPA 533, EPA 537.1, and EPA 537 rev. 1.1, soil and biosolids by ASTM D7968-17 with Isotopic Dilution, and wastewater, groundwater, and surface water by ASTM D7979-19 with Isotopic Dilution and development of the new EPA 1633 method.