Federal tests of one-third of water systems find 70 million Americans exposed to PFAS – suggesting 200 million affected overall
About 70 million people are exposed to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in US drinking water, new testing from the Environmental Protection Agency has found.
But the testing completed to date has only checked about one-third of the nation’s public water systems, meaning the agency is on pace to find over 200 million people are exposed, or at least 60% of the US population.
The figure does not include private wells, and the federal government previously estimated about 8 million people who draw water from those are exposed to PFAS.
The EPA’s continuing testing is the first comprehensive nationwide assessment aimed at understanding the scale of PFAS contamination in US drinking water. So far, the government figures match up with independent estimates that found about 200 million people drink tainted water, and the widespread contamination cuts across geographic and socioeconomic boundaries.
Reverse-osmosis water filtration systems is what you need at home to have clean drinking water now, it’s a reliable way to remove PFAS and other bullshit from your tap water.
https://nicholas.duke.edu/news/not-all-home-drinking-water-filters-completely-remove-toxic-pfas
You do also lose all of the fluoride and other dissolved ions/minerals when you do RO. It’s not the end of the world, but the effect fluoride in the drinking water has had on dental health since the 50s is notable, and depending on your diet, you may actually want some of the naturally occurring minerals in your water. Still worth looking into though!
