It may cause cancer. Can SC keep unregulated chemical out of the water?
Toxic chemicals that have polluted water at military bases across the country are drawing concern from state and local officials in South Carolina over the threat the pollutants pose to the public.
A bill in the state Legislature, introduced by Rep. J.A. Moore would for the first time set limits on the amount of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances allowed in drinking water. At the same time, Richland County Councilwoman Dalhi Myers wants to test for the chemicals in soil and groundwater.
Moore, a Democrat from the Charleston area, said he is frustrated with the federal government’s failure to set a standard for the toxic pollutants, commonly known as PFAs.
“We’ve seen a lack of leadership at the federal level,’’ Moore said. “A lot of people in South Carolina, both Republicans and Democrats, believe in the power of states and local governments to protect the people that we represent.
“This is an opportunity at the local level, the state level for us to take action and not wait on big brother or the federal government to save South Carolina.’’
Per-fluoroalkyl and poly-fluoroalkyl substances have received national attention lately with the release of the movie “Dark Waters,” a film based on the discovery of PFAs on a West Virginia farm decades ago.
PFAs are lightly regulated substances that research has shown can make people sick. The federal government has no mandatory drinking water standard, but it has issued health advisories and provided information to drinking water systems about the potential hazards.
Nationally, some states, including Michigan and New York, are looking to set pollution standards for perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substance. Others are pressing the federal government to adopt national standards, according to the Environmental Council of States.
On Friday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued updated guidelines for screening for PFAs in groundwater. In a statement, the agency acknowledged that “the scientific information on these compounds continues to evolve.”
“There was a multi-year study of 60,000 people in West Virginia that were downstream from a facility that produced PFAs,” said Erik Olson with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “That study found a link between the chemicals and cancer of the kidney ... and other health effects, including problems with pregnant mothers.”
Although research is ongoing, preliminary studies indicate that drinking water or eating food tainted by PFAs can cause developmental delays in young children, as well as prostate, liver and kidney cancer, according to the EPA and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Moore said the chemicals appear to be a danger to the public, particularly people living on and near military bases.
“It’s vitally important to address this,’’ he said.
The presence of PFAs has been tied to a kind of firefighting foam used on military bases. Fort Jackson started investigating the pollutants’ impacts on the base earlier this year, and both McEntire Joint National Guard Base and Shaw Air Force Base in neighboring Sumter County have reported finding contamination by PFA substances in groundwater, according to federal reports.
Myers, the councilwoman who introduced the call for a county study, said her request isn’t a direct response to any particular finding at the areas’ bases, but came from a training session she attended for counties with military facilities.
“My goal in introducing this motion is to bring Richland County into a dialogue that the federal government is leading with regard to PFAs and their high concentration around military bases,” Myers said.
SC state Rep. Wendy Brawley, D-Richland, said she has heard concerns from constituents who live near Shaw Air Force Base in the Sumter County side of her district.
“Certainly, the federal government has the responsibility to do something” for any contamination that results from the chemicals’ use on military bases, Brawley said.
“I don’t know that we would have authority over military installations,” she said, but “South Carolina and other states will do what we can to cajole and convince the federal government that they have a financial obligation to clean it up.”
Shaw is one of at least three South Carolina Air Force bases where high levels of PFAs have been found in groundwater, according to the Environmental Working Group, which has been studying the chemicals’ presence in communities across the country.
Some of the highest levels of PFAs found on a military site in the country were at the old Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and the Charleston Air Force Base, the group’s research has found. PFAs also have been detected at McEntire Joint National Guard Base in eastern Richland County.
It isn’t fully known how the contaminants have affected groundwater that is used for drinking water near military bases. But the U.S. Department of Defense is investigating and Congress is considering whether to set a drinking water limit.
Olson, with the Natural Resources Defense Council, says the EPA’s threshold for screening is still higher than the levels at which research suggests PFAs might be dangerous.
“(PFAs) have a problematic feature; they’re very toxic at a low dose, measured in parts per trillion,” he said. “And they’re very mobile. They move quickly in water.”
Some of the most common PFAs – known as PFOA and PFOS – were first produced in the late 1940s by the 3M Corp. DuPont later produced PFAs. The materials were used in non-stick cooking pans, hair products, plastics, lubricants and firefighting products, according to scientists who have found high levels of PFAs in alligators in South Carolina and Florida.
Contamination at military bases is suspected to be tied to the use of firefighting foams.
If Moore’s bill to set a drinking water standard becomes law, DHEC would be empowered to take enforcement action against any water system with PFA levels above the safe drinking water standard. But DHEC spokesman Laura Renwick declined to comment on the legislation.
PFAs aren’t routinely tested in drinking water but DHEC tested nearly 500 large water systems from 2013 to 2015 to determine if the materials showed up. The agency says it has only found PFAs in one water system.
The Environmental Working Group, which has been conducting research on PFAs in drinking water, has identified a small Upstate system as having detectable levels of PFAs at one point.
Currently, DHEC sets no regulatory limit on PFAs, although it does perform random tests on water systems, and Richland County is not required to test for the chemical in its systems.
Clint Shealy, Columbia’s assistant city manager for water services, said the city conducted a test of its drinking water supply last year that did not find any detectable level of PFAs. Richland County Council was told it has enough funding available to conduct 10 tests this year. A test costs between $300 and $500.
Although Columbia has Richland County’s largest system, smaller, rural systems also operate in the county.
Olson said there is evidence companies are moving away from PFA materials as the dangers of the chemical become better known. Several retailers such as Lowe’s and Home Depot have recently stopped selling carpets that contains PFAs, he said.
This story was originally published December 23, 2019 at 5:00 AM.
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