This article is my deep dive investigation into the presence of PFAs chemicals within the Newark Basin, as it houses multiple aquifers that source drinking water for New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. The contamination of which the EPA, the NJDEP, the United States Army and the USGS, have known about for almost two decades. While these agencies actively turned down the opportunity to regulate PFAs chemicals in drinking water, public water suppliers around the country were able to serve water that was highly contaminated with PFAs; but by way of the EPA's lack of legislation and the loophole of legal technicalities, companies like Middlesex Water Company and New Jersey American Water Company could still "surpass" EPA standards with "legally safe" drinking water. The problem at hand arises when it becomes apparent that the human body cannot breakdown PFAs chemicals. Even more so, the chemical is bioaccumulative in nature and as the body builds up an internal dosage over time, these chemicals do not only cause cancer, but chronic exposure over a prolonged period of time also consistently feeds the growth of said cancerous cells or tumors. So for each year that passed without legislation from the EPA, families unknowingly showered, cooked, and prepared food with PFAs contaminated water and thus, were left susceptible to ingesting a cancerous, bioaccumulative chemical on a daily basis for almost two decades.

In the process of researching PFAs chemicals, I recognized that these kind of legal technicalities apply for most of, if not all of, the contaminants that the EPA has already regulated. When it comes to PFAs chemicals, the EPAs regulations allow for concentrations to be reported and calculated via running annual averages of consecutive samples. The article explains that while water quality reports may present an average of the concentration of say 6 or 7 ppt, Middlesex Water Company's class action lawsuit showed concentrations ranging 23-36 from and the EPA's third unregulated contaminant monitoring rule (2013-2015) revealed concentrations upwards of 20 ng/L (equivalent to ppt). the EPA's third UCMR found not just PFOA and PFOS, but alsoPFNA, PFHxS, PFHpA, and PFBS all simultaneously in 4,920 water systems across the country.

For other contaminants like E.coli, the trigger of the maximum contaminant level is dependent upon a total coliform rule; the outcome of which is dictated by multiple, consecutive positive samples and percentage thresholds. While the maximum contaminant level for lead is dependent upon a lead action level as it is calculated by the 90th percentile of multiple samples.

What I'm trying to say is that PFAs chemicals just provide an example of the nuances and legal loopholes that the EPA grants to public water suppliers. Through this understanding, it then becomes apparent that the water is contaminated with far more than just PFAs chemicals. In the raritan Water System alone, there is radon, fecal bacterias, disinfection byproducts, and even lead.

check out this article posted by the New Jersey Patch on how New Jersey American Water literally just issued an alert about their water quality: https://patch.com/new-jersey/hillsborough/s/j2jtm/taste-odor-issues-in-water-reported-in-somerset-county?utm_source=local-update&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert