LANSING – The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy this week is beginning to accept public comment on proposed new limits for PFAS in drinking water.
Through month’s end, the state is soliciting input on the proposed rules, including three community meetings, before likely rolling them out in late spring.
Michigan’s rules would set maximum contaminant levels for seven poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water, all lower than the federal advisory of 70 parts per million, at the recommendation of the Michigan PFAS Action Response Team’s (MPART) Science Advisory Workgroup.
Some members of work groups that developed the proposal advocated for a limit on the total amount of PFAS compounds allowed in drinking water, but that’s not possible because so much is still unknown about the chemical, said Scott Dean, a spokesman at EGLE.
Instead, Dean said the work group focused on seven commonly found, widely studied compounds of the thousands of PFAS chemicals to create “defensible” limits for the seven compounds based on their known health effects such as cancer, kidney and liver damage and developmental delays and low birth weights.
Is there an update to what came out of this public comment period? I’d be interested to know because I think i am affected by this. Also, should we be looking at water filters for our homes? I have found a couple water filters that remove PFAS like the one referenced, but these can be expensive. Any ideas?