Environmental Industry Updates
The Latest News on Scientific and Regulatory Updates from Merit Laboratories
The U.S. Army is joining forces with the U.S. EPA to target a new enemy: PFAS contamination in drinking water. The joint EPA-Army program announced in July will be focused on the sample collection and laboratory testing of private drinking water wells near nine army installations for PFAS. The program will be focused on identifying the potential impact of PFAS migration from installations to contaminate drinking water wells of nearby residents.
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.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formally announced the issuance of the next Toxic Substances Contract Act (TSCA) test order requiring PFAS testing. The new test order is being made under the National PFAS Testing Strategy. The EPA announced the action on January 4, 2023, which orders companies to conduct and submit testing for the PFAS substance HFPO. HFPO (CAS # 428-59-1), also known as trifluoro(trifluoromethyl)oxirane, is used in plastics manufacturing.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the release of Effluent Guidelines Program Plan 15 (Plan 15) to protect the nation’s waterways. According to the EPA Plan 15 will follow the science and the Clean Water Act to develop technology-based pollution limits and studies on wastewater discharges from industrial sources.
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 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released updated health advisories in June for PFAS compounds in drinking water. These new limits significantly reduce the guidelines previously established in 2016. The new drinking water interim health advisories reduce the limit for both PFOA (perfluoro-octanoic acid) and PFOS (perfluoro-octane sulfonate).
