Hawaii fails to protect the public from PFAS in drinking water
Other states are more protective
By Pat Elder
January 17, 2023
What’s in your water, Hawaii?
In 2020 Massachusetts set the standard across the country when it established a maximum contaminant level, (MCL) of 20 parts per trillion for the total of 6 toxic PFAS compounds (MA 6) in drinking water. (PFOS, PFOA, PFDA, PFHpA, PFHxS, & PFNA.)
MCL’s are enforceable standards. If a combination of the MA 6 exceeds this level, municipal water providers must treat the water or shut down the contaminated well.
In contrast, Hawaii has set environmental action levels, (EAL’s – Table A, HIDOH, December 29, 2022) for 19 PFAS compounds that only call for additional evaluation when water exceeds the limits. According to the Hawaii Department of Health, “If potential concerns are confirmed, then the specific hazards posed by the contamination are identified, the need for additional data to complete the site investigation is determined and the preparation of appropriate remedial actions is recommended.”
Remedial actions involve reversing or stopping environmental damage. There has been no public record of this occurring in Hawaii because individual PFAS compounds have exceeded the EAL. Meanwhile, Hawaii is very slow in publishing results of PFAS testing of municipal water providers.
Massachusetts will shut wells down if the combination of these 6 toxins exceeds 20 ppt. It’s not clear what Hawaii will do when the total of the six surpasses 100 ppt.
PFAS HI - EAL
PFOS 4 ppt
PFOA 6 ppt
PFDA 4 ppt
PFHpA 40 ppt
PFHxS 40 ppt
PFNA 6 ppt
Total 100 ppt
States with enforceable drinking water standards include ME, MA, MI, NH, NJ, NY, and VT.
In Massachusetts, the total of these 6 may not exceed 20 ppt. Maine has the same enforceable level. Vermont has an MCL of 20 ppt for 5 of the above PFAS. They leave PFDA out of it.
New Hampshire has MCL’s for PFNA at11 ppt, PFOA at 12 ppt, PFOS at 15 ppt and PFHxS at 18 ppt.
New Jersey has MCL’s for PFNA and PFOS at 13 ppt and PFOA at 14 ppt.
New York has MCL’s for PFOA and PFOS at 10 ppt.
Michigan has MCL’s for PFNA at 6 ppt, PFOA at 8 ppt, and PFOS at 16 ppt.
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Hawaii Department of Health is out to lunch
Back in December of 2021, PFAS were detected in samples taken from the Red Hill well but the information wasn’t publicized for a year. The Hawaii Department of Health knew about the PFAS detections in March of 2022 but kept it from the public. At that time, state toxicologist Diana Felton said PFAS at Red Hill had come up negative.
DOH claims it tested Red Hill’s water for PFAS immediately after the massive fuel leak but did not detect PFAS. According to the DOH, samples later taken by the Navy tested positive, and the Navy told DOH about it, according to DOH. A spokesperson for the Department of Health explained, “Public notification by the regulatory agencies was not required.”
Required? Required by whom? The DOH?
Really? The DOH is making it look like the Navy is to be praised for coming forward? Who is in charge here? The Navy or the state? The same script is being played out across the country. State health departments, generally, are spineless. They don’t want to make waves.
The Hawaii DOH is failing the public while activists tend to focus much of their righteous indignation on the Navy, the Defense Logistics Agency, (DLA), and the EPA, but these are not the only entities who are responsible, and they are the least likely to change their behavior.
The EPA is the Fox in the hen house.
The Navy and the DLA will lie, steal, poison, forge, hide and deal. It’s what they do. The EPA will act like an honest broker, while they are the proverbial fox in the hen house. Nations around the world have set maximum contaminant levels to reign in these chemicals that pose an existential threat to all of us. Not in the USA, If the federal government finally sets an MCL for a few PFAS compounds, you can bet military and industry users of these poisons have developed suitable - equally toxic - unregulated alternatives.
It's up to the locals to protect themselves and the Hawaii Department of Health Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response (HEER) Office is failing miserably.
We must demand accountability and transparency from our own health departments – here in Hawaii and in state capitals across the country. Hawaii must begin publishing materials, like the New England states, which can be read and understood by folks who don’t have advanced degrees in the sciences. People can understand the complexities, although the state must translate the scientific language for folks to comprehend it.
C’mon, Hawaii! Start publishing things that make sense to people!
After all, incredibly accurate PFAS test kits can be purchased for $79 through Cyclopure, so people can easily test their water or surface waters suspected of being contaminated with PFAS. This kit will analyze 55 compounds, including all of the 19 set out in Hawaii’s Environmental Action Levels. The DOD and industry also use this company.
Too many in Hawaii are clueless. The state can do a better job protecting human health from the ravages of PFAS chemicals used by the military and industry. Let’s examine the state’s newly published Environmental Action Levels for PFAS.
(EAL’s – Table A, HIDOH, December 29, 2022)
What does it mean? Are they purposely laying it out like this so folks (if they can find it..) won’t have a clue?
Examine the values for soil and groundwater at distances greater than 150 meters to surface water and distances less than 150 meters to surface water. They are the same, so we don’t need four columns of data. We only need two. That makes it a little easier. The size of the type ought to be increased too.
Let’s examine the groundwater. Ug/L means Micrograms per Liter which is the same as parts per billion. 1 part per billion = 1,000 parts per trillion. Hold the thought.
Let’s look at the top row labeled PFBS. Hawaii’s Environmental Action Level for PFBS is set at 6.0E-01 ug/L. This is the same as 6.0 x 10-1. You can put it into an online calculator. People get confused here.
3-D chemical structure model of PFBS NIH - Pub Chem
Anyway, for PFBS, 6.0E-01 ug/L is the same as .6 parts per billion. Now, we have to multiply .6 times 1,000 and that comes to 600 ppt of PFBS. The Hawaii DOH is OK with you drinking 600 ppt of PFBS. And even if it exceeds that level, we’re not sure what happens next. Is it safe? Probably not.
The National Institutes of Health considers PFBS to be a “highly hazardous substance.” PFBS is strongly linked to young children with asthma. The powerful toxin is associated with: low birth weight, diabetes, an imbalance of cholesterol that can lead to cardiovascular disease, enlarged liver, high blood pressure, and high blood pressure during pregnancy.
This is just the first one of the 19 compounds Hawaii has decided to softly regulate. There are more than 12,000 varieties of PFAS and they’re all thought to be dangerous.
Skip down to PFBA. The LEA for PFBA is 7.6E + 00. That would be 7,600 parts per trillion. Don’t worry, be happy? A Danish study found that people with elevated levels of PFBA were more than twice as likely to have a
severe form of Covid-19. PFBA is in firefighting foam. It was found in high concentrations in Maryland crabs but no one there wanted to hear it.
C’mon, Hawaii! You can do a better job! Other states present the same data at a middle school level in parts per trillion so that everyone can understand it.
Special thanks to the Downs Law Group for their continued financial support. We couldn’t continue to create these reports at this pace without their help.
The firm is working to create a multi-base coalition to provide legal representation and blood testing to individuals with a high likelihood of exposure to PFAS and other contaminants.
Interested in joining a multi-base class action law suit pertaining to illnesses stemming from various kinds of environmental contamination?
Join the Veterans & Civilians Clean Water Alliance Facebook group. (2.1 K members and growing rapidly.)
Military Poisons and the Women’s League for Peace and Freedom, US are continuing to raise funds to cover the costs of PFAS seafood testing in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia, and Florida. You can make a tax-deductible contribution here. What’s in your fish? What’s in your blood?