The Orange County Water District (OCWD) and its 19 retail water providers are intensifying their collaborative efforts to combat PFAS contamination in Orange County following the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) establishment of legally enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for six PFAS chemicals. Consistent with the requirements of the new MCLs, water providers will work expeditiously to design and construct more PFAS treatment plants to restore impacted groundwater wells within the five-year compliance period. Since early 2020, Orange County water agencies have been actively addressing PFAS following California’s adjustment of health advisory levels for PFOA and PFOS.
The EPA officially set the MCL for PFOA and PFOS at 4.0 parts per trillion (ppt), the MCL for PFNA, PFHxS and HFPO-DA at 10 ppt, and established a Hazard Index of 1 for any mixture of PFNA, PFHxS, PFBS, and HFPO-DA. With these new MCLs in place, approximately 40 more wells within the OCWD service area will be affected, bringing the total number of PFAS-impacted wells to approximately 100. Parts per trillion is an extremely minute measurement, detectable only recently with advanced lab equipment. To provide perspective, one ppt is equivalent to a drop of water in 20 Olympic-size pools or one second in 30,000 years.
“Despite bearing no responsibility for the release of PFAS into the environment, we are doing everything we can to remove them from groundwater supplies,” said District President Cathy Green. “We’ve already achieved significant milestones—from launching the nation’s largest PFAS Treatment Pilot Project to being the first public agency in California certified to detect PFOA and PFOS to investing millions in building PFAS treatment plants,” she added.
In fact, OCWD has already constructed enough PFAS treatment plants to bring more than 38 wells back online. This marks a substantial investment in addressing this issue.
PFAS contamination remains OCWD’s top priority—it’s a significant and costly challenge. The estimated cost of addressing PFAS in Orange County over the next 30 years is approximately $1.8 billion. OCWD has undertaken various measures to protect water quality and customers, including legal actions against polluters and advocating for legislation to fund PFAS cleanup while ensuring water agencies aren’t held liable.
“OCWD and its water retailers reliably provide drinking water every day to the 2.5 million people in its service area,” Green emphasized. “The District’s stringent water quality monitoring and testing ensure that tap water consistently meets all state and federal standards.”
For more information about OCWD’s efforts to address PFAS in Orange County, please visit the PFAS Education Center.