PFAS Informational Item
Roberto Yano, Assistant General Manager
Justin Brazil, Director of Water Quality
December 17, 2024
Agenda
2 • What are PFAS?
• Regulations and Testing
• Potential Solutions
• Community Outreach and Action
• Q&A
3 Sweetwater Authority's water is
safe to drink and meets all current state and federal
standards and guidelines.
PFAS levels were below the mitigation level, which
means treatment is not required; however the level
does require notifying customers.
One of four data points needed to get better picture of situation.
PFAS Explained
4 Where are PFAS Found?
5 PFAS in Water Supplies
6 How PFAS enters water
supplies
- Firefighting foam
- Industrial discharges
- Landfills and wastewater
- Consumer products
EPA PFAS Mapping
7 Over 57,000 sites in
the U.S. could be
impacted by PFAS,
including 519 major
airports.
Source: EPA PFAS Analytics
Cost of PFAS Remediation
8 Source: AECOM/Bank of America
Regulations and Testing – California
9 • State of California and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are taking significant steps to address PFAS
• California has one of the most comprehensive PFAS testing and monitoring programs in country
• Sweetwater has received monitoring orders from the State's Division of Drinking Water (DDW) and reports under this program
Regulations and Testing – Federal
10 • Enforceable EPA regulations of six PFAS with the lowest level set at 4 PPT (parts per trillion) taking effect in 2029
• In April 2024, EPA required public water systems to perform one year of initial quarterly monitoring by 2027, in order to meet new standards by April 2029
• Sweetwater completed first round of initial monitoring inOctober 2024, while conducting required monitoring per Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule, known as UCMR-5.
EPA PFAS Metrics Explained
11 Initial Testing Results Received November 2024
12 PFAS CA Notification
Level
CA Response
Level Results
PFHxS 3 ppt 20 ppt 6.7 ppt
PFOA 5.1 ppt 10 ppt 9.4 ppt
Measured in parts per trillion (ppt)
Results received from water treated from Sweetwater Reservoir Water Safety
13 • These PFAS levels were above the California notification threshold, meaning we are required to inform customers but are not required to treat the water at this time
• Based on current state and federal guidelines, your water is safe to drink • The stricter federal regulations in 2029 will lower allowable thresholds, meaning water systems like ours will need to treat for even smaller amounts of PFAS
Ongoing Testing
14 • EPA requires more testing to obtain full picture of situation • Confirm exact levels in water supply
• Required to perform quarterly monitoring for a 12 month period • Need three more quarterly tests in 2025: January 2025, April 2025 and July 2025
• Will continue to test to gather more data to inform potential solutions • Testing will continue through the end of 2025
15 Sweetwater Authority PFAS Timeline
Potential Solutions for the Future
16 • This is a critical moment for us to plan for
new EPA regulations
• Important to plan now because of significant
costs associated with treating PFAS
• Advanced filtration systems require major
investments in infrastructure and ongoing
operational costs
• Switching to imported water adds significant
cost
Fiscal
Responsibility
Transparency
& Rapid
Response
Health &
Safety
17 We are Taking Action
Community Collaboration
18 • Committed to engaging community and stakeholders throughout the process • Next steps
o Community Advisory Work Group updates: January 28, 2025 o Three (3) workshops: February 2025
o Bonita
o Chula Vista
o National City
19 Visit
www.sweetwater.org/
PFAS
Call us at
(619) 409-6786
Attend a meeting
Sign up for our
email list
Email
PFAS
@sweetwater.
org
Q&A
20