Maximum Contaminant Level Recommendations for Perfluorooctane Sulfonate in Drinking Water

Abstract

The New Jersey Drinking Water Quality Institute (the Institute) was established by the 1984 amendments to the New Jersey Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) at N.J.S.A. 58:12A- 20. It is charged with developing standards (Maximum Contaminant Levels; MCLs) for hazardous contaminants in drinking water and for recommending those standards to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). In 2014, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection requested that the Institute recommend MCLs for perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and two other long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The Institute recommended an MCL for PFNA on July 1, 2015, an MCL for PFOA on March 15, 2017 and it now recommends an MCL for PFOS herein. Three subcommittees are established within the Institute to address the essential considerations for development of MCLs as outlined in the New Jersey SDWA. The Health Effects Subcommittee is responsible for recommending health-based levels (Health-based MCLs) for contaminants of concern, the Testing Subcommittee is responsible for evaluating and recommending appropriate analytical methods and developing Practical Quantitation Levels (PQLs; the levels to which a contaminant can be reliably measured by drinking water laboratories), and the Treatment Subcommittee is responsible for evaluating best available treatment technologies for removal of the contaminants of concern from drinking water.