Camarillo City Council
AGENDA REPORT
Date: July 10, 2024
To: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
From: Greg Ramirez, City Manager
Submitted by: Dave Klotzle, Public Works Director
Subject: Adopted Federal PFAS Regulations
BACKGROUND
The City provides high quality drinking water to approximately 47,000 residents within its service area generally described as the portion of the City west of Calleguas Creek. The City’s drinking water system includes various groundwater wells, pipelines, pump stations, reservoirs, and the recently constructed North Pleasant Valley Groundwater Desalter treatment facility. Drinking water quality is regulated by the State of California (State) using U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requirements for drinking water. The City provides its water customers an annual Consumer Confidence Report confirming that City drinking water complies with State and Federal water quality regulations.
The Camarillo Sanitary District (CSD) collects and treats approximately 3.5 million gallons of wastewater each day through a system of pump stations, pipelines, and the Water Reclamation Plant (WRP). The WRP produces high quality recycled water that is beneficially reused for irrigation and agriculture in the area. The WRP also produces biosolids that are hauled away for offsite beneficial uses by others. The State and EPA regulate the quality of recycled water and biosolids.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of manmade compounds that were widely used in common household products due to their resistance to heat, water and oil. PFAS can be found in carpets, cookware, furniture, cosmetics, firefighting foam, sunscreen, waterproofing materials, and other items. PFAS are considered “forever chemicals” once they make their way into the environment through commercial uses, industrial processes, or from commonly used products. The EPA is concerned about the presence of PFAS in materials and its effects on human health but has also been evaluating if PFAS is present in drinking water, recycled water, or biosolids.
Adopted Federal PFAS Regulations
July 10, 2024
In 2012, EPA identified PFAS as a contaminant of concern in their Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) program to further research any health effects from PFAS to prepare for future regulation in drinking water. All water systems are required to participate in the UCMR program, and the EPA releases its list of new contaminants of concern to test for about every 5 years. The EPA has required testing for PFAS in drinking water starting with the 3 rd round of UCMR testing, called UCMR-3, which the City performed in 2013.
The EPA manages enforcement of a program called the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund, to regulate and cleanup properties with abandoned hazardous substances in the ground.
CERCLA imposes various responsibilities and potential penalties on past or present owners of facilities with hazardous substances identified by the EPA, on those who transport or arrange for transport of hazardous substances, and on those who accept hazardous substances. EPA has been given broad powers to enforce cleanup and assign responsibility of identified contaminants.
DISCUSSION
City staff has been tracking PFAS regulations closely and their potential impacts to the quality of drinking water, recycled water, and biosolids. There is no immediate concern related to City drinking water, recycled water, or biosolids, and City staff is considering these current and future regulations when planning for water and wastewater infrastructure projects. The EPA is moving quickly on evaluating and establishing regulations regarding PFAS, and some regulations have already been established.
Currently, the focus is on drinking water due to the EPA recently adopting maximum levels of PFAS allowed in drinking water, and concurrent UCMR-5 testing for PFAS underway.
Prior City testing in drinking water for PFAS was performed as part of UCMR-3, and no PFAS was found at nor above the testing limits required by the EPA. No PFAS testing was required as part of UCMR-4. As part of UCMR-5 testing currently underway, no PFAS has been detected to date in City drinking water at the testing limits required by the EPA, and PFAS testing will continue into next year.
Earlier this year, a federal court approved class-action settlements where the companies 3M and DuPont will have to pay between $10.5 billion and $12.5 billion to water purveyors who submit a claim and have costs related to PFAS being present in drinking water. The settlement class includes every active public water system in the United States including the City. The City Council has chosen to maintain an “opt-in” position in the settlement and a future decision by City Council will be required by late 2025 to file a claim depending on whether PFAS is detected above EPA limits in the City’s UCMR-5 testing results.
PFAS can be found in the wastewater treatment process because PFAS makes its way into the sewer system from commonly used items. EPA regulations for PFAS in wastewater operations have not yet been adopted but are anticipated to be adopted in Adopted Federal PFAS Regulations
July 10, 2024
the future. Regulations on the limits of PFAS are expected to be not as strict as those for drinking water. In 2022, the CSD was required by the State to test for PFAS in influent sewer flows, recycled water, and biosolids. PFAS was detected in trace amounts in influent, recycled water, and biosolids, but no actions were taken, and none were required. The trace amounts of PFAS detected most likely came from sewer inflows from residential, commercial, or industrials users and not CSD operations.
Another recent regulation adopted by the EPA was to designate PFAS under the CERCLA program allowing the EPA to regulate facilities or sites that have PFAS present or transport PFAS. The minimum quantity of PFAS for this regulation to be applicable is very large, about one pound, and based on the flows the WRP receives, the CSD is not anticipated to be affected, however staff will continue to monitor this regulation.
EPA enforcement policy related to PFAS includes exercising restraint against public agencies with focus on enforcing regulation violations against parties who significantly contributed to the release of PFAS, especially manufacturers and industrial operations.
While the City may possibly be somewhat insulated from PFAS related regulatory violations at this point, the full scope and cost of PFAS compliance measures required by the City is undetermined. There is also the future possibility of legal action being taken against the City through third-party lawsuits in the event that PFAS is detected above EPA levels in the City’s systems and other regulatory agencies are not already supervising remediation of those detected PFAS.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is currently no fiscal impact to the City related to PFAS, however, future regulatory compliance measures may be required with a scope and cost that is unable to be determined at this time.
RECOMMENDATION
Receive and file.
ATTACHMENTS
None
REFERENCE MATERIALS – AVAILABLE FOR REVIEW AT CITY HALL None