“This is a necessary first step.
Sen. Gillibrand has focused on the issue of PFOS and PFOA, including pushing President Donald J. Trump’s administration to move forward with new kinds of firefighting foam that do not include the toxic chemicals.
“We don’t need to study the issue any longer to know that PFAS contamination shouldn’t be allowed in our drinking water,” she tweeted last week after the EPA announcement.
Sen. Schumer said in his letter to Mr. Wheeler that the delay in addressing the issue was concerning.
When ingested, they have been linked to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, pre-eclampsia, thyroid disease, developmental defects in fetuses, liver tissue damage and immune system impairments.
They were found in nonstick pans, furniture, cosmetics and household cleaners as well as in airport firefighting foam.
A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the EPA announcement changes nothing at the state level.
“Unfortunately, lack of federal leadership has further clarified that New York must continue to chart our own course to set protective levels for emerging contaminants in drinking water,” wrote Erin Silk in an email.
We are on target to adopt the most protective maximum contaminant levels for PFOA/PFOS, as well as recommending the first-ever level for 1,4-dioxane and expect to reach decisions for both soon following the rulemaking process.” In December, the state Drinking Water Quality Council put forward its recommendations of no more than 10 parts per trillion in drinking water for both PFOS and PFOA.
The Department of Health is now moving forward with these recommendations to establish its own legally enforceable limit.

The chemical compounds are all around you.
At hearings around the country last year, local and state officials asked the agency to set a maximum level for PFAS in drinking water nationwide.
Manufacturers say newer forms are safer and don’t remain in the human body as long as older types.
The 2005-2013 study monitored and tested nearly 70,000 people who had been drinking water tainted with PFOA, one of two kinds of PFAS since phased out of production.
The federal toxicology report also says EPA’s ‘advisory level’ of 70 parts per trillion of PFOA and PFOS – the two older, phased-out versions – in drinking water is too weak.
EPA-mandated testing of about 5,000 of the roughly 150,000 public water systems in the US that was completed in 2016 found dangerous levels of the same two PFAS compounds in 66 systems.
Tests found drinking water contamination exceeding the EPA’s health advisory for a lifetime of exposure for two PFAS compounds, PFOS and PFOA.
Michigan agencies plan to sample a variety of wild game, such as ducks and other waterfowl, for the chemicals.
They already test fish and deer.
___ Casey reported from Concord, New Hampshire, and Flesher reported from Traverse City, Michigan,

The state health department has been aware for at least three years that high levels of industrial toxin known as PFOA, used in non-stick cookware and other products, had contaminated the drinking water in the Rensselaer County community of Hoosick Falls.
A similar chemical, known as PFOS, has been detected in a reservoir that serves as the water supply for Newburgh, a city of 29,000 people.
The pressure for New York to act independently of federal regulators increased this week after Politico, an online news site, cited unnamed sources in reporting that the Trump administration is steering the Environmental Protection Agency to set no limits for PFOS and PFOA in drinking water.
“Governor Cuomo has said for over three years now that if the federal government does not establish a drinking water standard then New York would,” said Judith Enck, who in the former Obama administration was the Northeast region administrator for the EPA.
“The New York health department is painfully slow, and other states are now speeding by them” with efforts to set limits on the toxins in tap water.
“Federal inaction is not stopping New York from protecting its citizens from unregulated chemicals in drinking water,” said Silk, citing recommendations for proposed standards issued by the New York’s Drinking Water Quality Councli.
“Americans have a right to know how much, if any, of this chemical is in their drinking water,” Rep. Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck, said in a letter to Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
Delgado said EPA should address the levels of the toxins in the agency’s water management plan.
Enck and the other activists said the health department should now put those standards in regulation.
Zucker has pointed out that the EPA is responsible for setting regulatory limits under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

After drinking contaminated water at his farm shed for 40 years Ōhakea farmer Andy Russell wants to know how much toxic substance from firefighting foam is in his blood.
He’s one of at least 13 people who live or work around the Ōhakea Airforce Base who have asked to have their blood tested for the presence of the per or poly fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) that have been in firefighting foam used at the base.
Russell had his blood test on September 3, and said the results are six weeks away.
"We don’t know what elevated levels in our blood will mean."
He chairs the residents’ group formed in response to news that compounds from the foams have spread 3km from the base in groundwater.
Little was known about PFAS when is was first found at Ōhakea, a NZDF spokesperson said.
More testing found two of the substances, PFOS and PFOA, were above guideline levels.
In September modelling showed contamination could have moved beyond the base, and the NZDF wanted to contact neighbours and test their water.
PFOS and PFOA are no longer approved for use in firefighting foams in New Zealand, an All of Government PFAS spokesperson said.
Other, less damaging, PFAS compounds may be in firefighting foams still in use.

In Warminster and surrounding towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and at other sites around the United States, the foams once used routinely in firefighting training at military bases contained per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
That was before testing showed it had some of the highest levels of the toxic compounds of any public water system in the U.S. “You all made me out to be a liar,” Hagey, general water and sewer manager in the eastern Pennsylvania town of Warminster, told Environmental Protection Agency officials at a hearing last month.
The meeting drew residents and officials from Horsham and other affected towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and officials from some of the other dozens of states dealing with the same contaminants.
At “community engagement sessions” around the country this summer like the one in Horsham, residents and state, local and military officials are demanding that the EPA act quickly — and decisively — to clean up local water systems testing positive for dangerous levels of the chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Earlier this year, federal toxicologists decided that even the EPA’s 2016 advisory levels for the two phased-out versions of the compound were several times too high for safety.
In Horsham and surrounding towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and at other sites around the United States, the foams once used routinely in firefighting training at military bases contained PFAS.
The chemical industry says it believes the versions of the nonstick, stain-resistant compounds in use now are safe, in part because they don’t stay in the body as long as older versions.
In Delaware, National Guard troops handed out water after high levels of PFAS were found in a town’s water supply.
“If the risk appears to be high, and you’ve got it every place, then you’ve got a different level” of danger and urgency, Clough said.
In 2005, under President George W. Bush, the EPA and DuPont settled an EPA complaint that the chemical company knew at least by the mid-1980s that the early PFAS compound posed a substantial risk to human health.

That was before testing showed it had some of the highest levels of the toxic compounds of any public water system in the U.S. "You all made me out to be a liar," Hagey, general water and sewer manager in the eastern Pennsylvania town of Warminster, told Environmental Protection Agency officials last month.
At "community engagement sessions" like the one in Horsham, residents and state, local and military officials are demanding that the EPA act quickly—and decisively—to clean up local water systems testing positive for dangerous levels of the chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
EPA testing from 2013 to 2015 found significant amounts of PFAS in public water supplies in 33 U.S. states.
So did scientific studies that firmed up the health risks.
Earlier this year, federal toxicologists decided that even the EPA’s 2016 advisory levels for the two phased-out versions of the compound were several times too high for safety.
Even as the Trump administration says it advocates for clean air and water, it is ceding more regulation to the states and putting a hold on some regulations seen as burdensome to business.
In Horsham and surrounding towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and at other sites around the United States, the foams once used routinely in firefighting training at military bases contained PFAS.
The chemical industry says it believes the versions of the nonstick, stain-resistant compounds in use now are safe, in part because they don’t stay in the body as long as older versions.
"If the risk appears to be high, and you’ve got it every place, then you’ve got a different level" of danger and urgency, Clough said.
"That’s not what you want to do when you’re protecting the public health."

In Warminster and surrounding towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and at other sites around the United States, the foams once used routinely in firefighting training at military bases contained per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
That was before testing showed it had some of the highest levels of the toxic compounds of any public water system in the U.S. “You all made me out to be a liar,” Hagey, general water and sewer manager in the eastern Pennsylvania town of Warminster, told Environmental Protection Agency officials at a hearing last month.
The meeting drew residents and officials from Horsham and other affected towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and officials from some of the other dozens of states dealing with the same contaminants.
At “community engagement sessions” around the country this summer like the one in Horsham, residents and state, local and military officials are demanding that the EPA act quickly — and decisively — to clean up local water systems testing positive for dangerous levels of the chemicals, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS.
Earlier this year, federal toxicologists decided that even the EPA’s 2016 advisory levels for the two phased-out versions of the compound were several times too high for safety.
In Horsham and surrounding towns in eastern Pennsylvania, and at other sites around the United States, the foams once used routinely in firefighting training at military bases contained PFAS.
The chemical industry says it believes the versions of the nonstick, stain-resistant compounds in use now are safe, in part because they don’t stay in the body as long as older versions.
In Delaware, National Guard troops handed out water after high levels of PFAS were found in a town’s water supply.
“If the risk appears to be high, and you’ve got it every place, then you’ve got a different level” of danger and urgency, Clough said.
In 2005, under President George W. Bush, the EPA and DuPont settled an EPA complaint that the chemical company knew at least by the mid-1980s that the early PFAS compound posed a substantial risk to human health.

Africa Studio/ShutterstockThey say “slow and steady wins the race,” and when it comes to water filter pitchers?
A recent study out of The Ohio State University revealed water filters that work too quickly may be letting harmful toxins get through to your drinking water (and you won’t believe what toxins might be in your drinking water!).
For the study, published in the journal Water Science Technology: Water Supply the scientists compared three popular pitcher brands for their ability to clear “dangerous microcystins” from tap water.
Microcystins are a common group of algae found in calm waters like reservoirs, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and they can sicken or kill people and animals who drink water contaminated with them.
“Toxic cyanobacterial blooms are a global threat to human health due to contamination of drinking water,” according to the study.
“To ensure public safety, water treatment plants must have the capability to remove [them] from water.
Recently, however, there have been several instances when [they’ve] been detected in tap water.” With that in mind, the scientists extracted microcystins from Lake Erie, diluted them in tap water, and then subjected the tap water to three different water filter pitchers, each of which is readily available on the market.
It turned out that the pitcher that took the longest to filter the water—it uses a blend of activated carbon—effectively decreased microcystins to below detectable levels.
Lead study author, Justin Chaffin, PhD, the research coordinator for Ohio State’s Stone Laboratory, believes that when water is passing through carbon, “contact time really seems to matter.” In the study, contact time ranged from two minutes per liter (in the worst-performing pitcher) to six minutes per liter (for the best).
The middle-of-the-road pitcher took about four minutes per liter.

Low levels of toxic algae have been discovered in Salem’s drinking water, prompting officials to issue an advisory that parents should not give tap water to children under 6 years old.
From WinCo Foods to Safeway, the amount of bottled water is dwindling or already gone, store officials said at multiple locations Tuesday night.
“We’re just about out of bottled water,” said Anna Stell, customer service clerk at Safeway on Center Street in Salem.
Officials to warned parents not to give tap water to children under 6 years old, and people with compromised health and immune systems also are being told not to drink tap water.
All totaled, about 185,000 people who live in Salem and the Santiam Canyon could be impacted.
People who heard the news and showed up to grocery stores Tuesday night were greeted by chaotic circumstances.
"People were pushing — it was a madhouse," said Mark Schonbrun, 72, who was standing in the parking lot of the WinCo in South Salem.
"We got the news from her school, and since she’s right on the cusp for the age warning, we decided to come down and get bottled water for her," Keith said.
Story continues below: Salem-Keizer Public Schools will offer bottled water for students who are pre-K through first grade, district officials said Tuesday afternoon.
As reports of bottled water shortages rolled in, those at grocery and convenience stores had echoed a common theme — supplies are running low.

However, the report also shows a connection between the shallow aquifer where toxins were found and the deeper Memphis Sand Aquifer that provides the city’s drinking water.
TVA began investigating last year after toxins ended up in wells that monitor pollution from coal ash ponds at its Allen Fossil Plant in Memphis.
The shallow monitoring wells are near far deeper wells drilled directly into the Memphis Sand Aquifer.
The TVA had planned to use the deeper wells to cool a nearby natural gas plant that will replace the coal plant later this year, but it has decided it will not use the cooling wells at this time.
Discovery of the toxins raised concerns from Memphis residents and environmental groups that the contaminants could seep from the shallow Alluvial aquifer where the monitoring wells are located into the deeper Sand Aquifer that supplies the city’s slightly-sweet drinking water.
A layer of clay about 30 to 70 feet thick separates the two aquifers.
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The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation stated at the time that news of the toxins’ existence was released that the department was confident the contaminants "are not impacting drinking water."
Still, the department asked Memphis Light, Gas & Water — the city’s water utility — to test treated drinking water, and it came up clean.
TVA is planning to buy water from Memphis Light, Gas & Water for daily operations, it said.