Toxic Drinking Water: The PFAS Contamination Crisis

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large class of tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals that are widely used for their oil and water repellency, temperature resistance, and friction reduction-but they have been linked to a variety of serious health effects, including kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, and a decreased response to vaccines. These toxic chemicals are found virtually everywhere: air, soil, water, food, plants, wildlife, and in the bodies of people. Every day, people can be exposed to mixtures of PFAS chemicals from eating food, breathing air, or coming into contact with dust, carpets, paints, cleaning products, clothing, upholstery, and personal care products like dental floss.

For many people, their primary exposure to PFAS is through their drinking water. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently estimated that public drinking water systems, serving up to 105 million people, may have PFAS at levels that are unsafe for health (an estimate that doesn't include the millions of people that get drinking water from private wells). In addition to recent federal action to regulate a small number of PFAS in drinking water, Americans should take steps to test and filter their own water and continue to push for additional federal and state actions.