Nearly 500 people registered for the event to hear from scientists, city and water officials and others to learn how the region and the state are addressing contamination as well as exploring alternatives to these chemicals to protect future water supplies. Our panel included:

• Robert Beste, Assistant General Manager, Water Replenishment District of Southern California
• Steven Carmona, City Manager, City of Pico Rivera, California
• Jason Dadakis, Executive Director, Water Quality and Technical Resources, Orange County Water District
• Scott Grieco, P.E. Ph.D., Global Technology Leader, Jacobs
• Craig Miller, General Manager, Western Municipal Water District
• Dan Newton, California State Water Resources Control Board Division of Drinking Water
• Steve Tedesco, Senior Vice President, Tetra Tech

Interested in more resources? Here are some PFAS resources we shared during the webinar:

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency PFAS webpages 
• USEPA also links to PFAS information state by state 
• California State Water Boards PFAS webpages 
• Orange County Water District webpage on addressing PFOA/PFOS 
• Water Replenishment District of Southern California PFAS information webpage
• Western Municipal Water District Understanding PFOS and PFOA webpage 

You may also want to check out these files from the webinar:

• Webinar poll results
• Questions and Answers text
• Webinar chat transcript

We got terrific feedback from our participants as well. Here’s a sample:

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These chemicals have been used in manufacturing since the 1940s to make items waterproof, stain-resistant or non-stick. While no longer manufactured in the United States, these legacy PFAS are still made in other countries and are present in many imported products. These chemicals then make their way to groundwater through landfills, conventionally treated wastewater, military sites and other sources such as legacy PFAS manufacturing sites. People are also exposed to PFAS through use of products treated with the chemicals.

OCWD has been proactively exploring how PFAS can be removed from groundwater supplies. In 2019, the district’s Philip L. Anthony Water Quality Laboratory became the first public agency laboratory in California to achieve state certification to analyze for PFAS in drinking water. Last year, it also launched the nation’s largest water treatment pilot program for PFAS, through which it tests various methods of filtering PFAS chemicals out of drinking water, specific to each retail agency in its service area.

Those efforts proved prescient when in early 2020, the State of California lowered the acceptable levels for PFAS, prompting the closure of groundwater wells in Orange County and across California. The new, lower state level was set at 10 parts per trillion for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and 40 parts per trillion for perfluoroctane sulfonate (PFOS), two chemicals in the PFAS family.

Over the next few years, OCWD and its member agencies affected by the chemicals are planning on constructing and operating new treatment systems to remove PFAS from drinking water wells.

“We’re making a significant investment to ensure water agencies in Orange County can continue providing clean, reliable, and more affordable water to their customers,” said OCWD Board President Vicente Sarmiento.

With wells shut down, area water agencies will rely on imported water instead of groundwater to meet communities’ water needs. That shift underscores the importance of a reliable imported water supply which serves as an insurance policy for the region not just when water supplies become unusable but also during drought.

For more information about OCWD’s work, visit its PFAS webpage to view a fact sheet, video and other useful information.

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