Maine Hearing: Experts & Residents Testify for Safe Drinking Water

This week, legislators, impacted citizens, scientists and health advocates urged the Health and Human Services Committee to follow the policies of nearby states in the fight against drinking water contamination.

The committee convened in a public hearing that involved two bills related to health-harming toxic chemicals known as PFAS. A bill on behalf of the administration would set a limit based on outdated USEPA numbers, while health advocates pushed for a bill that sets lower numbers in line with nearby states.

Impacted Mainers, including a resident from Fairfield whose well water tested high for PFAS contamination, environmental health scientists, farming experts, and health advocates, spoke out at the hearing before the committee to push for more protective standards in Maine.

Read the press release below for more information:

Leading science and health advocates to call for Maine to follow Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire in adopting more protective standards for PFAS in drinking water at legislative hearing

Committee urged to amend Department of Health and Human Service proposal to bring it in line with nearby states

Portland, Maine (February 9, 2021) – With the ongoing issues of drinking water contamination in Maine, health scientists, advocates, and impacted residents will implore the legislature to adopt drinking water standards for PFAS that are at least as protective as nearby states. Maine officials have been using an outdated “advisory” level from the USEPA of 70 parts per trillion (ppt), and advocates are pushing to reduce that number as the Health and Human Services committee considers bills to establish a legally binding standard. 

Maine, unlike New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, does not currently have a legal limit for drinking water contamination by a widely used and highly toxic class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).  State officials have informally been referencing the outdated US EPA “advisory” level while neighboring states have recently adopted standards up to six times lower than the EPA level. 

LD 164, sponsored by Rep. Ralph Tucker (D-Brunswick) would require Maine to adopt the same 20 ppt standard as Massachusetts. This would result in an essential reduction in the threshold for what is considered contaminated water in the state, a reduction that many advocates and impacted citizens are endorsing.

“In the last few weeks, we learned that at least 29 wells in Fairfield are contaminated with toxic levels of PFAS. These discoveries only amplify the problem of safe drinking water in Maine with previously reported contamination of wells in Presque Isle and Trenton, as well as the contaminated public supply from Kennebunk, Kennebunkport, and the Wells Water District,” said Mike Belliveau, Executive Director at Defend Our Health. “Mainers should not be drinking water that would be illegal to serve in nearby states. The legislature must adopt standards at least as health protective as our neighbors.”

The approach in LD 164 contrasts with the Department of Health and Human Service’s proposal, which sets the standard at 70 ppt. The Department’s proposal, contained in LD 129, will be considered at the same hearing at 10AM this morning.

Top scientists have stated that the level from the USEPA is not adequately protecting the health of Mainers, having discovered harm to the immune system, including decreased responses to vaccines. Prominent agencies within the federal government, including the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, part of the CDC, and the Director of the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences have recommended lower safety thresholds for PFAS.

“The EPA level of 70 ppt for PFOA and PFOS neither considers the effects of PFAS observed at low levels of exposure nor accounts for the vulnerability and sensitivity of infants and children,” said Katherine Pelch, an Assistant Professor at the University of North Texas Health Science Center who specializes in chemical impacts on development and has studied the basis for setting PFAS drinking water standards across the country.  “Leading scientists currently suggest that drinking water levels of several PFAS should be in the range of 1-2 ppt in order to account for a variety of health effects that have been observed at low levels of exposure.”

The issues with the current lack of a federal or state limit for PFAS in drinking are not theoretical. Residents of Maine, namely children, are impacted daily by the contaminated water in the state. 

Bold state action is needed to protect our water supply from toxic chemicals. In order to determine the extent of contamination, we need to test all public drinking water systems for PFAS. Testing requirements are included in LD 129, but are not specifically addressed in LD 164.  Advocates will encourage the committee to adopt the standards from LD 164 and the testing requirements from LD 129.  An additional bill, submitted by Rep. Bill Pluecker (I-Warren) was previously endorsed by Defend Our Health, but has yet to be printed and will not be considered by the committee today.