Read the full article by Charlie Paullin (Virginia Mercury)
“Virginia’s public water systems could need to spend $390,000 to $2.4 million a year for the next 35 years to clean up a group of chemicals known as PFAS or ‘forever chemicals,’ according to estimates from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Private systems that rely on wells could also face costs of between $14,000 and $17,000 annually for the next 35 years.
The figures, which were formulated by the EPA as part of rules proposed by the federal government to deal with PFAS contamination, were presented to the State Water Commission last month. But while they represent some of the first attempts at putting a dollar value on cleanup efforts, commission members emphasized the numbers are only estimates that could change as the state continues testing local water systems.
‘Under the EPA rule, the public water systems affected by this would have to do at least quarterly sampling, or yearly sampling depending on the system type,’ said Dwayne Roadcap, director of the Virginia Department of Health’s Office of Drinking Water. ‘And so at that point, we’re going to know exactly what kinds of costs people are going to deal with when that sampling starts happening.'”
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