The Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy sent draft rules that would limit PFAS contamination in drinking water to Governor Whitmer’s office Tuesday.
The Michigan PFAS Action Response Team approved the set of rules last Friday after months of gathering input from scientists, citizen groups, and businesses across the state.
Scott Dean, the Strategic Communications Advisor with the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy, says the draft rules include maximum contaminant levels for seven types of PFAS compounds.
“What we’ve done here with values for these seven compounds has really put Michigan on the path to potentially having some of the most advanced and far reaching standards in the nation,” Dean said.
The recommended limits are PFOS at 16 parts per trillion, PFOA at 8-ppt, PFNA at 6-ppt, PFHxS at 51-ppt, PFBS at 420-ppt, PFHxA at 400,000-ppt and Gen X at 370-ppt.
Dean says roughly 2,700 public water systems would be covered by the new rules, which could be adopted as early as April 2020. He says the recommended rules could change if additional science comes out.
The next step is for the draft rules to go before the Environmental Rules Review Committee later this week.
Copyright 2019 Michigan Radio
