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Refreshing

By Staff | Jul 21, 2019

After months of investigations, hearings and headlines, New Hampshire officials this week decided to impose strict new limits on the amount of PFAS material allowed in the water supply.

The chemicals are formally known as per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, but they are collectively called simply PFAS. This category then has two subdivisions: PFOA and PFOS.

The adopted New Hampshire standard for PFOA is 12 parts per trillion, while it is 15 parts per trillion for PFOS. Those numbers are far more stringent than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s suggestion of 70 parts per trillion.

However, the EPA also states on its website that exposure to PFAS increases the risk of cancer, thyroid hormone disruption and immune system impacts.

PFAS started to become common in the lingo of New Hampshire residents when the materials were identified in the water near the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics plant at Merrimack. Since then, members of the activist group, Merrimack Citizens for Clean Water, have continued to press for the pollution to be mitigated.

“Finding out you have contaminated water and it’s being served to your family is not something anybody wants to hear,” New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Assistant Commissioner Clark Freise told the Associated Press. “To now know we are moving down the road to making sure the public water systems are below these standards, and it is good clean water safe water to drink, everybody wants that.”

But the low standards have drawn opposition from municipalities and the business community in New Hampshire, some who worry about the cost of complying with the standards. Lobbyists representing New Hampshire businesses decried the move.

“We’re disappointed JLCAR did not postpone this agenda item to provide stakeholders an opportunity to assess the new MCLs,”

“The final proposed MCLs (maximum containment levels) , released less than three weeks ago, left little time or opportunity for interested parties to properly examine and comment on the effects of the new MCLs. The final proposed MCLs are between 50% and 80% lower than those initially discussed,” New Hampshire Business and Industry Association President Jim Roche said.

On the other hand, no longer should residents have to worry about consuming too much PFAS in their water. Also, no longer will parents have to worry about their children bathing in too much PFAS.

Enjoy the clean water!

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