UGA researchers working to limit ‘forever chemicals’ in water as EPA announces new restrictions

ATLANTA — Your tap water could be filled with a major health hazard called forever chemicals, of PFAS.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced for the first time Wednesday that it is setting limits on them in our drinking water.

Like a lot of metro Atlantans, Natasha Dixie buys her water instead of using what comes out of her tap.

“Because it has the chemicals in it, and I don’t want to give it to my family,” Dixie said.

Chemicals, like PFAS, which are manmade, forever chemicals, are used in hundreds of products like stain and water-resistant fabrics, nonstick pots and pans, food containers and even makeup.

What’s happening in a University of Georgia lab in Griffin could save lives, by cleaning the PFAS out of the water we drink and use.

“They are robust they don’t easily degrade,” said Jack Huang with the University of Georgia. “These chemicals can be harmful to human health.”

Scientists say even limited exposure to PFAS can lead to all sorts of ailments, including cancer.

It’s such a concern, that President Joe Biden charged the EPA to regulate the amount of six PFAS chemicals in our drinking water.

That’s six out of thousands of known variants.

“There are over 10,000 of them now,” Huang said.

Huang is leading the UGA team using a federal grant to find ways to get rid of them.

“We’re hoping to boost our treatment technologies,” Huang said.

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The team collected samples from wastewater treatment plants and tested it for PFAS before using various methods to try and remove them including filters, chemicals and electric shocks.

“We know it is a forever chemical. And so, we’re trying to figure out ways to get rid of it within the treatment plants,” University of Georgia associate professor Gary Hawkins said.

Because eventually, treated wastewater ends up back in the environment, where we get our drinking water.

“If the treatment technologies are not in the water treatment plant, it would be in that water treatment plant,” Hawkins said.

That may be why the United States Geological Survey found plenty of PFAS in our nation’s tap water.

The USGS sent kits to volunteers across the nation to test for 32 kinds of PFAS.

“We found PFAS in about 45% of tap water across the U.S.,” United States Geological Survey research hydrologist Kelly Smalling said.

In Georgia, we have fairly low levels, showing areas with one to three types of PFAS detected compared to other some other states, with 7-9 detected.

“Georgia’s definitely not a hotspot. We did identify hotspots across the US. Those tended to be in the Northeast, the Great Lakes area, as well as central and southern California,” Smalling said.

The study showed PFAS levels trended higher in urban areas with high industrial activity.

But for many Georgia families, even a small amount is too much risk.

“I don’t use water from the tap. Never,” Stephanie Amir said.

RELATED NEWS:

Georgia researchers work to remove harmful forever chemicals from water New research shows forever chemicals, known as PFAS, are so prevalent that even treated water is at risk.

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