Updated cleanup standards were announced by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE). For groundwater used as drinking water, EGLE has included five additional PFAS compounds to Part 201, making the total number of PFAS regulated in groundwater to seven compounds.
Effective December 21, 2020, the compounds PFNA, PFHxS, PFHxA, PFBS, and HFPO-DA (also known as GenX) joined PFOS and PFOA as regulated compounds under Part 201 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA). Part 201 is Michigan's primary environmental cleanup program and provides the regulatory framework for most contaminated sites in the state.
The residential and non-residential drinking water generic cleanup criteria (GRCC) for the five new PFAS compounds are as follows:
Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) 0.006 ppb
Perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS) 0.051 ppb
Perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) 400 ppb
Perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS) 0.420 ppb
Hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) 0.370 ppb
In the December memo , Mike Neller, director of EGLE’s Remediation and Redevelopment Division, stated that “scientific evidence supports designating these PFAS as hazardous substances due to their potential to pose unacceptable risks to public health and the environment.” The EGLE directive is in response to growing PFAS contamination discovery in the state. According to EGLE, more than 1.5 million residents have drinking water contaminated with PFAS and there could be as many as 11,300 potential sites where PFAS may have been used.
Merit Laboratories is a leading national PFAS environmental laboratory, analyzing drinking water, soil, wastewater, groundwater, and other sample matrices, including biosolids and sludge. Analytical methods performed by Merit for PFAS include drinking water by EPA 533, EPA 537.1, and EPA 537 rev. 1.1 and soil, wastewater, groundwater, and surface water by ASTM D7979-19 with Isotopic Dilution and ASTM D7968-17.