Environmental Industry Updates
The Latest News on Scientific and Regulatory Updates from Merit Laboratories
The Department of Defense (DoD) conducts sampling of drinking water off-base to ensure it identifies potential impacts of PFAS resulting from DoD activities. Off-base drinking water includes non-DoD drinking water systems and private wells located outside the installation boundary. The DoD provides final test results of off-base drinking water in accordance with Section 345 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022.
The United States Department of Defense (DoD) continues to track PFAS contamination progress at over 700 military installations throughout the country. In the DoD’s latest update, the list of sites includes bases and facilities in all 50 states and several U.S. territories, including Puerto Rico, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The U.S. EPA (EPA) has released the highly anticipated 2nd Draft of EPA Method 1633, an LC/MS/MS method to analyze PFAS. This second draft, released by the EPA in June, is a follow-up to the original draft released in Fall 2021. One of the most concerning aspects of the first draft was it being based on a single laboratory validation study
The number of military sites with confirmed PFAS contamination continues to grow. An additional 59 Department of Defense (DoD) military installations with PFAS contaminated soil, groundwater, and surface water is now confirmed and added to a rapidly expanding list. The addition of these DoD installations brings the number of U.S. military bases and facilities with confirmed PFAS contamination to 385, according to a recent report published by the Environmental Working Group. In addition to these 385 installations with confirmed PFAS contamination, there are another 294 DoD installations that are suspected to have PFAS groundwater contamination.
Merit Laboratories recognizes organizational leaders in PFAS science, which includes The Interstate Technology Regulatory Council (ITRC). The ITRC is a state-led coalition working to reduce barriers to the use of innovative air, water, waste, and remediation environmental technologies and processes.
In what surely will impact environmental regulatory programs across the United States, the EPA is actively prioritizing PFAS in the environment and has taken two recent actions to continue to address contamination. The EPA has issued a memo detailing an interim National Pollutant Discharge Elimination (NPDES) permitting strategy for PFAS.
Merit Laboratories has expanded the list of analytical methods, compounds, and sample matrices for which it is accredited through the DoD Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (DoD ELAP). Through this expansion, the DoD officially revised Merit Laboratories' DoD ELAP testing certification to also now include EPA Method TO-15 for the analysis of air samples. Merit is also analyzed for a comprehensive list of analytical methods for aqueous and solid sample matrices.
The U.S. Department of Defense is actively performing assessments of PFAS usage and potential releases at more than 650 military installations throughout the country. The list of installations includes sites in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Marshall Islands, Midway Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The military installations being assessed cover a diverse range of DoD facilities
