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Organizers expect 6,000 water professionals to attend this year’s Texas Water conference at the Fort Worth Convention Center. The annual event kicked off April 10, 2024. (Haley Samsel | Fort Worth Report)
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Fort Worth water director Chris Harder knew the federal government’s announcement on “forever chemicals” in drinking water was on the horizon.But he couldn’t have predicted new regulations would hit the same morning that 6,000 water professionals descended on the Fort Worth Convention Center for the annual Texas Water conference. 

“I’ve been saying it’s going to happen next week for the last month,” Harder said. “We figured it would happen — we just didn’t know it was going to happen during the conference.” 

Under the Environmental Protection Agency’s final regulations announced Wednesday, public water systems across the U.S. must monitor for six PFAS chemicals in drinking water and take action to reduce contamination if they are above acceptable levels. 

PFAS are known as “forever chemicals” because they build up in the environment and people’s bodies rather than break down. Exposure to high levels of PFAS has been linked to increased risk of cancers, developmental delays in children, decreased fertility and reduced ability to fight infections. 

Most Americans have been exposed to the chemicals through drinking water, food packaging, stain-resistant fabrics and fire extinguishing foam, among other consumer products, according to the EPA.

Water utilities must complete initial testing and make the results publicly available by 2027. If testing shows that the water system’s PFAS levels are above federal limits, the utility has five years — until 2029 — to implement solutions that reduce and remove PFAS from the water supply. 

As a large city, Fort Worth has conducted a lot of testing that smaller utilities may not have completed yet, Harder said. The city’s most recent sampling, collected between January 2023 and January 2024, found that the overall average amount of PFAS chemicals in Fort Worth’s water would not violate the new standards. 

What are the new PFAS chemical standards?

While the federal government’s rules set a goal for two PFAS chemicals, PFOA and PFOS, to be zero in drinking water systems, the goal is not enforceable and water utilities will not be out of compliance if their PFAS levels are above zero. 

But, if water utilities report an average of PFOA or PFOS above 4 parts per trillion, they will be required to reduce contamination in drinking water. Three other chemicals — PFNA, PFHxS, and HFPO-DA, also known as “GenX Chemicals” — are capped at 10 parts per trillion. The federal government will also enforce limits on mixtures of two or more chemicals.

However, the North Holly and South Holly water treatment plants reported high levels of PFHxS, which is capped at 10 parts per trillion under the new regulations. The North Holly plant reported an average of 15.1 parts per trillion, while South Holly reported 13.8 parts per trillion. One part per trillion is equal to one drop of impurity in 500,000 barrels of water, according to the city.

City staff initiated a study of PFAS treatment options last year and now expect to install activated carbon to remove chemicals at the Holly treatment plants. City Council members will likely vote on an engineering contract to design the activated carbon filter system before their July break, Harder said. 

“We are in a position where we’re going to have to go with the carbon solution,” he said. “It’s going to be expensive, and it’s going to impact our ratepayers, and we’re going to be doing everything we possibly can to get some federal support in terms of the funding, but we’re going to have to move forward.” 

Harder is among the many state and city leaders sounding the alarm that the EPA’s current grant funding for PFAS testing and removal — about $9 billion through the 2021 infrastructure law — will not come close to covering the actual cost. 

Fort Worth’s newest water treatment plant, Westside, opened in 2012. City leaders said the plant, pictured in January 2024, was necessary to meet population growth in west Fort Worth. (Camilo Diaz | Fort Worth Report)

Several cities, including Fort Worth, are seeking to recoup funds from major chemical manufacturers. After declining to participate in two class action settlements with 3M and DuPont last year, Fort Worth officials hired attorneys with experience in PFAS litigation to pursue the city’s claims against the companies. 

Viraj deSilva, a senior treatment process leader at Freese and Nichols with decades of experience in PFAS management, was among dozens of speakers at the Texas Water conference. Fort Worth was set to host the convention in 2020, but canceled amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In advice to water utilities, deSilva offered: Start planning, testing and conducting public outreach as soon as possible. With the new regulations now in place, consultants, treatment providers and the actual materials to build filtration systems will be in high demand, he said. 

“There will be higher demand, and you may have to wait more than three years to get completed,” deSilva said. “The earlier, the better, since you may have more funding opportunities to construct rather than passing to the ratepayers if you are in the early stages of the game, not only from the polluters but also from the EPA, state and federal grants.”

Attendees talk inside the Fort Worth Convention Center’s exhibit hall during the annual Texas Water conference on April 10, 2024. Mary Gugliuzza, Fort Worth’s water department spokesperson and conference co-chair, said that about 6,000 water professionals from across the state were expected to network and obtain educational credits during the conference, which wraps April 12. (Haley Samsel | Fort Worth Report)

Fort Worth has been ahead of the game, Harder said, by launching monthly testing last July in addition to required federal tests. The water department is exploring how industrial companies are discharging chemicals into wastewater and has plans to work with environmental services staff to look into PFAS treatment options at landfills, Harder said. 

As the work continues, Harder wonders if other industries will face the same scrutiny as water utilities. 

“You have people using Teflon cookware, you have people buying Scotchgard for clothes and carpets. It’s all throughout household appliances,” he said. “You would think at some point there would be some advisories about replacing carpets, throwing out the Scotchgard. You would think that they would start putting some emphasis on that, too. I haven’t seen it.”

Haley Samsel is the environmental reporter for the Fort Worth Report. You can reach them at haley.samsel@fortworthreport.org.

At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.