PFAS in Wastewater and EPA Proposed Rules: Revising Effluent Limitations Guidelines and Pretreatment Standards

Description

The Clean Water Act requires the EPA to biennially publish a plan for new and revised ELGs. On Jan. 31, 2023, the EPA released the Final Effluent Guidelines Program Plan (Plan 15). In Plan 15, EPA outlined plans to expand the detailed study of PFAS in wastewater discharges from landfills and textile and carpet mills.

On Dec. 16, 2024, EPA released its Preliminary Effluent Limitation Guidelines Plan 16 (Plan 16). The plan includes new studies, data collection efforts, and updates on rulemakings for ELGs and pretreatment standards for PFAs and other contaminants. Plan 16 also continues to focus on and evaluate the extent and nature of PFAS discharges and assess opportunities for limiting those discharges from multiple industrial categories, including battery manufacturing, centralized waste treatment, and onshore oil and gas extraction. Plan 16 also signals the EPA's intent to initiate new detailed studies of PFAS processors.

Industrial discharges of PFAS have occurred at thousands of industrial sites known or suspected to use or produce PFAS. Impacts have been noted in places like the Cape Fear River Basin, N.C., Parkersburg, W. Va., Hoosick Falls, N.Y., and Belmont, Mich. In the Midwest and the South, the application of biosolids as fertilizer has also come under scrutiny. Similar issues are likely to arise across the United States.

EPA has been committed to addressing and ultimately limiting PFAS in industrial wastewater discharges. It is also expected that more industries will be subject to revised regulations by EPA in the future. With the continued focus on PFAS, businesses should continue to follow EPA's information-gathering and rulemaking activities in this area and identify and mitigate potential risks associated with PFAS in their operations moving forward.

Listen as our expert panel discusses the rules, the status of current studies on PFAS in wastewater, current litigation trends, and how industries can identify potential risks with PFAS to meet future compliance standards.