PFAS Regulations, Drinking Water MCLs, and What Comes Next with Eurofins Taryn McKnight

The U.S. drinking water MCLs for PFAS remain in effect, but court challenges, proposed deadline extensions, and regulatory uncertainty have left public water systems in a difficult position. Taryn McKnight, VP and PFAS Practice Leader for Eurofins Environment Testing, breaks down the current state of PFAS regulation in the United States, including the legal battles over EPA's drinking water standards, the CERCLA hazardous substance designation, and why the proposed rollback of certain PFAS compounds may be less consequential than headlines suggest.
Recorded at the Battelle Chlorinated Conference in Dallas-Fort Worth, McKnight and host Sean Grady examine why utilities are caught between monitoring requirements and investment decisions, how biosolids have emerged as a primary concern for state agencies, and what the UCMR5 occurrence data actually shows about which compounds warranted a national primary drinking water regulation. They also discuss the passive receiver problem under CERCLA, congressional efforts to address it, and why legislation has stalled year after year.
The conversation also covers the growing public interest in biomonitoring, Eurofins' direct-to-consumer blood testing kits for PFAS exposure, the role of citizen science in building population-level data, and what it would take for microplastics to move from EPA's Contaminant Candidate List to a monitored contaminant under UCMR6.
Learn more about Eurofins Environment Testing's PFAS services at eurofinsus.com/pfas.
Visit Sean Grady at seankgrady.com to subscribe to the newsletter and support the show.
#PFAS #DrinkingWaterRegulation #EnvironmentalPodcast
CHAPTERS:
0:00 Introduction and Conference Setting
2:02 Status of PFAS Drinking Water Regulations
4:10 EPA's Proposal to Extend the 2029 Compliance Deadline
5:45 Safe Drinking Water Act No-Backsliding Provision
7:10 UCMR5 Data and the Case for Rescinding Four Compounds
9:20 Biosolids and Wastewater as State-Level Priorities
11:05 State Responses to PFAS Regulation
12:15 CERCLA Hazardous Substance Designation Challenges
13:45 Passive Receivers and Congressional Action
17:30 Sponsor Messages
20:05 Biomonitoring and Public Awareness of PFAS
21:40 Eurofins Blood Testing Kits and Citizen Science
22:50 PFAS and the Evolution of Laboratory Testing
26:10 Robert Bilott, Dark Waters, and Advocacy Impact
30:45 Battelle Conference and What Comes Next
31:20 Microplastics, CCL6, and the Path to UCMR6
34:20 Closing Thoughts and How to Reach Eurofins

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