On April 10, 2024, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the first ever national drinking water standards for Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) chemicals. Information on EPA’s action can be found on
EPA’s website for drinking water as well as in a previous
Trinity article. PFAS are a series of man-made chemical compounds that persist in the environment for long periods of time. For this reason, they are often called “forever chemicals.” For decades PFAS chemicals have been used in industry and consumer products such as nonstick cookware, waterproof and fire-resistant clothing, and stain resistant carpet and furniture.
Given Georgia’s history as one of the nation’s biggest producers of textiles, including carpet, it is expected that these PFAS chemicals are present in drinking water at levels above the new standards. In fact, in preparation of these new standards, GEPD has been conducting monitoring for these chemicals in surface water and drinking water and has already found them in many locations. Information on the location and concentration of these chemicals that has already been identified can be found on
GEPD’s PFAS website.
Public water systems must begin monitoring for these chemicals and reporting the results to the public by 2027 and they must install any additional necessary treatment systems to comply with the new standards by 2029. This treatment, if necessary to meet the standards, will be expensive. EPA estimated the cost of the compliance for the new standards to be $1.5 billion per year. There are currently several available technologies that drinking water systems can use to meet the new standards. These include granular activated carbon, anion exchange, reverse osmosis, and nanofiltration.
However, not included in EPA’s analysis of the cost of compliance for drinking water systems is an estimate of the impact of these new national drinking water standards on wastewater permittees. And in Georgia, this impact could be significant.
How Are Wastewater Permittees Impacted?
There are currently no in-stream water quality standards for PFAS in Georgia and no federally established technology-based limits for PFAS for any industrial category. So, how do PFAS drinking water standards, for which there are available technologies that drinking water systems can use to meet the standards, impact wastewater permittees? The rest of this article addresses that question.
GEPD issues wastewater permits to facilities that discharge wastewater directly to surface water (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES permits) as well as those that discharge wastewater via a land disposal system (aka land application system, or LAS permits) under the Georgia Rules for Water Quality Control, Chapter 391-3-6 (GRWQC).
The rules pertaining to land application systems include a provision in GRWQC 391-3-6-.11(4)(e) that states, “The groundwater leaving the land disposal systems boundaries must not exceed maximum contaminant levels for drinking water in accordance with Chapter 391-3-5 and subsequent amendments.” This means that once GEPD has adopted the new PFAS drinking water standards into Chapter 391-3-5, without Georgia GEPD taking any additional rulemaking action, land application system permittees will be required to meet the new PFAS drinking water standards in the groundwater within downgradient monitoring wells.
The rules pertaining to NPDES permits include a provision in GRWQC 391-3-6-.03(6)(a)(iv) that states, “No material or substance in such concentration that, after treatment by the public water treatment system, exceeds the maximum contaminant level established for that substance by the Environmental Protection Division pursuant to the Georgia Rules for Safe Drinking Water.” This provision for NPDES permits is much less clear than the provision for land application systems described above. Given that EPA has already determined that there are available treatment technologies that drinking water systems can use to meet the new PFAS standards, it’s not clear how GEPD could determine that PFAS will exceed the drinking water standard after treatment by the public water systems.
And while there are currently no in-stream water quality standards for PFAS in Georgia and no federally
established technology-based limits for PFAS for any industrial category, given the rapid pace of PFAS regulatory developments, future regulatory impacts to wastewater permittees resulting from either of these issues should not be ruled out.
What is Georgia EPD Planning to Do?
GEPD issued a draft memo dated August 1, 2024, that lays out their strategy on future actions they may take to incorporate PFAS requirements into wastewater permits. Since the memo was issued, GEPD has indicated that they intend to hold a public stakeholder meeting in early 2025 to describe their plans publicly and to allow for an opportunity for public comment on those plans.
The August 1, 2024, memo lays out the following plans for regulating PFAS in wastewater permits:
- Include effluent monitoring and groundwater monitoring in LAS Permits for POTWs and industrial facilities that may have PFAS in their wastewater. Influent sampling will also be required for any POTW which has an approved industrial pretreatment program.
- Include effluent monitoring in NPDES permits for POTWs, NPDES permits for dischargers to receiving waters with a designated use of drinking water, and industrial NPDES dischargers that may have PFAS in their wastewater.
- Following adoption of the PFAS drinking water standards by GEPD (required by 2026), land application system permittees will be required to meet the standards for PFAS in downgradient monitoring wells. NPDES permittees discharging to receiving waters with a designated use of drinking water will be evaluated to ensure PFAS is not discharged at a level that could cause an exceedance of the PFAS drinking water standards after treatment by the drinking water treatment plant.
What Should Georgia Wastewater Permittees Do?
Because the potential impact of GEPD’s plans for wastewater permittees is so far reaching, and potentially expensive, all wastewater permittees are advised to follow these developments closely.
GEPD’s plans, as described in the August 1, 2024, memo, raise a number of questions that wastewater permittees should be asking.
- If cost effective treatment technologies are available for drinking water systems to meet the new standards, why should wastewater permittees be regulated?
- Since there are currently no in-stream water quality standards for PFAS in Georgia and no federally established technology-based limits for PFAS for any industrial category, why should wastewater permittees be regulated at this time?
- When will PFAS monitoring begin in wastewater permits?
- What will the PFAS monitoring frequency be for wastewater permits?
- If a wastewater permittee can demonstrate that PFAS in the effluent is less than the drinking water standards, is monitoring still required?
- How will GEPD evaluate NPDES permittees discharging to receiving waters with a designated use of drinking water to ensure PFAS is not discharged at a level that could cause an exceedance of the PFAS standards after treatment by the drinking water treatment plant?
- Related to the previous bullet, what if the NPDES permittee has pretreatment sources with PFAS in their effluent?
For wastewater permittees looking for assistance with their upcoming permit renewal or guidance in navigating these potential PFAS issues, please contact our Atlanta, Georgia office. 
