{"id":481,"date":"2024-05-26T18:08:52","date_gmt":"2024-05-26T18:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/?p=481"},"modified":"2024-05-26T18:08:52","modified_gmt":"2024-05-26T18:08:52","slug":"new-epa-rules-could-hike-water-costs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/?p=481","title":{"rendered":"New EPA Rules Could Hike Water Costs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently passed new water purification standards that will require water providers to filter out “forever chemicals” or PFAS.\u00a0 Water providers will need to run new tests on their water to see if these contaminants are present.\u00a0 If they are, expensive new filtering equipment will be required.<\/p>\n

This is definitely something to keep an eye on.\u00a0 Many areas in the high desert have PFAS issues in their water, whether from military bases or poor agricultural or manufacturing practices in the past (even the near past, those illegal marijuana grows ignored all rules).\u00a0 Whether this will be an issue for Sheep Creek Water Company is something that remains to be seen.\u00a0 Our water comes from the mountains, so hopefully it won’t have issues.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/thehill.com\/policy\/energy-environment\/4685181-pfas-forever-chemicals-water-systems-rate-hikes-filtration-epa-rule\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Water systems warn Americans could soon see major rate hikes to filter out toxic \u2018forever chemicals\u2019<\/h1>\n

Utilities from South Florida to upstate New York have warned customers that they could see significant price increases after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)\u00a0mandated that they remove the substances<\/a>, which have been linked to a number of cancers and other diseases, from their systems.<\/p>\n

Last month, the EPA said it will require utilities whose water systems contain high levels of six types of PFAS to remove them from the water.<\/p>\n

PFAS, which stands for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are\u00a0a group of thousands of chemicals\u00a0that have been used to make a variety of nonstick and waterproof products and firefighting foam.<\/p>\n

The substances have also become ubiquitous in the environment, due in part to the fact that they tend to persist for a long time instead of breaking down.<\/p>\n

Exposure to these so-called forever chemicals has been linked to increased risks of prostate, kidney and testicular cancers, weakened immune systems, high cholesterol, and developmental issues in children.<\/p>\n

Now, for the first time,\u00a0utilities around the nation will be required to get\u00a0them out\u00a0of their drinking water to prevent customers\u2019 exposure. But that will come at a price.<\/p>\n

….<\/p>\n

That means the locales that have informed their consumers of rate increases may only be the first of many. The EPA, in its rule, estimated that about 6 percent to 10 percent of water systems will ultimately be found to contain PFAS at levels requiring action.<\/p>\n

Moody said he believes this is an undercount and that more of the nation\u2019s water systems could be contaminated.<\/p>\n

He added that much of the expense will come from the cost of installing and maintaining filters capable of eliminating the toxic substances.<\/p>\n

Water providers recently settled a major class action lawsuit against manufacturers of PFAS, and chemical giants could have to collectively pay billions of dollars to offset treatment costs.<\/p>\n

But, Moody said, the settlements are not expected to be enough to defray the expense.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you do get money through it, it\u2019ll likely only help you with maybe a third or a fourth of the costs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The added costs do come with the notable benefit of lowering communities\u2019 exposure to the harmful substances: Garcia described PFAS treatment as \u201cprobably something important to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, he said, \u201cwe\u2019re sort of paying the price\u201d of companies\u2019 PFAS use.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently passed new water purification standards that will require water providers to filter out “forever chemicals” or PFAS.\u00a0 Water providers will need to run new tests on their water to see if these contaminants are present.\u00a0 If they are, expensive new filtering equipment will be required. This is definitely something…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-waternews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":483,"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions\/483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scwcshareholders.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}