Comment submitted by Waterkeepers Chesapeake
AnonymousSupportAdvocacy
Summary: Waterkeepers Chesapeake, a nonprofit coalition of sixteen Waterkeeper programs, supports the inclusion of PFAS and microplastics on the Draft Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List 6. However, they argue that the EPA must move beyond mere recognition to establish enforceable national primary drinking water regulations and strengthen existing protections against these contaminants.
Communities Need Protection Now
Communities across the United States are already living with contaminated drinking water. Families and children are already exposed to PFAS, microplastics, and other emerging contaminants through daily activities as basic as drinking tap water.
The public deserves more than acknowledgment of the problem. It deserves action.
EPA has now formally recognized that these contaminants are present in drinking water systems and may threaten public health. That recognition creates an obligation to act decisively and consistently.
EPA should stop framing its continued delay as scientific caution. The science is already sufficient to justify action. EPA’s ongoing absence, and intentional weakening, of enforceable protections reflects policy choices, not scientific uncertainty.
The Agency should urgently finalize CCL 6 in a manner that advances enforceable protections, not merely future study, while reversing efforts to weaken existing PFAS safeguards.
Full comments attached.