ABSTRACT
In the United States, the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) provides the overarching federal construct for ensuring drinking water quality. The SDWA provides a process for identifying contaminants of potential health concern and mechanisms to manage exposure in drinking water. Under the SDWA, there are some primary risk management options: primary standards, which may be maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) or treatment technique requirements; health advisories; and secondary maximum contaminant levels (SMCLs). In January 2009, the US Environmental Protection Agency published provisional drinking water health advisories for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) as individual contaminants at 0.4 and 0.2 µg/L, respectively. The unregulated contaminant monitoring rule included monitoring for PFOS, PFOA, and four other perfluorinated compounds: perfluorononanoic acid, perfluorohexanesulfonic acid, perfluoroheptanoic acid, and perfluorobutanesulfonic acid. Selected perfluorinated compounds were included in the third Contaminant Candidate List in 2009, setting the stage for additional data collection and potentially regulatory action.
