Illinois moves to limit toxic forever chemicals contaminating wells throughout the state

Illinois is moving to join 10 other states that limit toxic forever chemicals in underground sources of water.

Regulations unveiled Wednesday by the Illinois Pollution Control Board are intended to protect millions of people from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, some of which build up in human blood, cause cancer and other diseases and take years to leave the body.

Nearly 300,000 Illinoisans rely on utilities where PFAS in well water exceed the state’s proposed standards, according to a Chicago Tribune analysis of testing conducted between 2020 and 2022. Chicago-area communities with contaminated wells include Fox Lake, Lake In The Hills, Marengo, Rockdale, South Elgin and Sugar Grove.

It is unknown how many of the 1.4 million people in the state who depend on private wells are drinking PFAS-contaminated water. The Tribune reported last year that state officials had decided it is up to individual well owners to have their water tested.

The new Illinois initiative comes as President Joe Biden’s administration is proposing the first-ever national drinking water standards for two of the most widely studied PFAS: perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), used by 3M for decades to make Scotchgard stain repellent, and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which 3M sold to DuPont to manufacture Teflon coatings for cookware, clothing and wiring.

If adopted, utilities will be required to limit concentrations of the two forever chemicals in drinking water to 4 parts per trillion, an amount the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency determined is the lowest at which PFOS and PFOA can be accurately detected. Four other PFAS, including replacements for the original Scotchgard and Teflon chemicals, also would be regulated for the first time.

Illinois plans to adopt similar limits for treated drinking water if and when the Biden administration finalizes its plan. For now the state’s action to restrict PFAS in groundwater addresses widespread contamination of “a vital resource that needs to be protected for current and future uses,” the Pollution Control Board wrote in a 70-page opinion.

Corporations and government agencies potentially responsible for contaminating groundwater have spent the past two years lobbying against the state’s proposal. They fear the standards would prompt legal action by the Illinois EPA and private lawsuits intended to force the cleanup of contaminated sites and ensure well owners have safe water.

Other states with PFAS limits include Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Lawyers for 3M persuaded a Michigan appellate court last summer to throw out that state’s standards for PFAS in groundwater, a decision under appeal before the Michigan Supreme Court.

During the Illinois proceedings, witnesses hired by 3M questioned the science state officials relied upon and attempted to raise doubts about the reliability of testing methodologies, among other things. The state rule-making board rejected the company’s arguments, noting the U.S. EPA and the World Health Organization have concluded that PFOA and PFOS are carcinogens.

The largely hidden health costs of PFAS exposure are staggering. A 2022 study by New York University researchers estimated it will cost the current U.S. population nearly $63 billion.

Government action to protect Americans from PFAS has been slow-coming in part because chemical manufacturers kept secret what they knew about the dangers.

Documents unearthed during lawsuits show top executives at Minnesota-based 3M knew as early as the 1950s about the harmful effects of forever chemicals the conglomerate pioneered after World War II. 3M didn’t begin telling the U.S. EPA what it knew about PFOA and PFOS until 1998 — more than two decades after Congress approved the nation’s first chemical safety law.

3M and DuPont have paid nearly $2 billion combined to settle PFAS-related lawsuits without accepting responsibility for contaminated drinking water or diseases suffered by people exposed to the chemicals. 3M has long maintained the chemicals are not harmful at levels typically found in people.

In June, 3M announced the company will pay at least another $10.3 billion to settle thousands of other claims accusing the company of contaminating public water systems with forever chemicals. DuPont and two other companies earlier said they had brokered a $1.19 billion settlement in the same cases, filed by cities and water systems across the nation and consolidated in a South Carolina federal court.

The money is expected to be paid out over time to test for and treat PFAS-contaminated water. 3M said last year it will stop making the chemicals by 2025.

©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.