Skip to content
Goldberg Segalla logo

Environmental Law Monitor

Your Guide to Emerging Issues in Environmental Regulation and Litigation.

Close up the pouring purified fresh drink water from the bottle on table in living room
• Environmental Law Monitor, PFAS, Regulations, SDWA

Fewer Limits, Forever Chemicals: EPA Signals Rollbacks to PFAS Limits in Drinking Water

Posted by

Recently, while speaking at a conference in Washington D.C., the Environmental Protection Agency’s head of the Office of Water, Jessica Kramer, indicated the administration is revisiting the Biden administration’s limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), commonly referred to as “forever chemicals,” in drinking water.

The prior limits were put in place by the Biden administration in 2024 and included the following:

  • A Maximum Contaminant Level Goal (MCLG) of zero for PFOA and PFOS.
  • Enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) set at 4.0 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), individually.
  • For perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), and GenX chemicals (a nickname given to shorter-chain chemicals used to make high-performance fluoropolymers without PFOA), the MCLGs and MCLs were set at 10 parts per trillion.
  • Limits were also set for any mixture containing two or more of the following PFAS: PFNA, PFHxS, perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), and GenX chemicals.

When these limits were announced in 2024, the EPA estimated that about 6 percent to 10 percent of the 66,000 public drinking water systems subject to the rule would need to take action to comply with the standards. Public water systems were given three years to complete initial monitoring for these chemicals. They were then required to inform the public of the level of PFAS measured in drinking water, and if PFAS were found above the MCLs, utilities would be required to implement treatment or other measures to reduce PFAS levels within five years.

Although the EPA has not released specific details of its current plan, the agency announced in 2025 that it would extend the compliance deadline for PFOA and PFOS from 2029 to 2031 and rescind and reconsider regulations for GenX chemicals and other less common PFAS.

Kramer said the agency’s goal is to revisit the rulemaking process, arguing that the Biden administration moved too quickly in setting limits on less common PFAS. Critics, however, contend that such action could violate the Safe Drinking Water Act’s “no backsliding” provision, SDWA § 1412(b)(9), which bars the EPA from weakening existing drinking water standards once they are in place. The statute provides that any revision to a drinking water standard “shall maintain, or provide for greater, protection of the health of persons.”

Litigation is also likely as environmental groups will almost certainly view any such move as a weakening of existing protections and a potential violation of the SDWA’s “anti-backsliding” provision.