Newly implemented Environmental Protection Agency regulations establishing strict enforceable limits on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS or forever chemicals, in public drinking water supplies are requiring significant and costly upgrades to water treatment systems across New Hampshire. The groundbreaking regulations, which set maximum contaminant levels far below what most existing treatment facilities are currently capable of achieving, represent both an important public health victory for affected communities and a substantial financial and engineering challenge for water utilities and local governments throughout the Granite State.
New Hampshire has been at the forefront of the national PFAS contamination crisis for several years, with widespread contamination discovered in groundwater aquifers, surface water bodies, and public water supplies in numerous communities across the state. New Hampshire established its own state-level PFAS drinking water standards in 2020, which were among the most stringent in the nation at the time, but the new federal regulations impose even more protective limits for several specific PFAS compounds, requiring additional advanced treatment capabilities at many facilities that had already invested considerably in initial remediation efforts under the state standards.
The scope of the statewide challenge is significant and daunting. According to detailed assessments by the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services, approximately 75 public water systems serving more than 350,000 residents across the state will need to install new or substantially upgrade existing treatment technologies to meet the new federal standards by the compliance deadlines. The estimated total statewide cost for these comprehensive improvements ranges from $350 million to $500 million, depending on the specific technologies ultimately deployed at each location and the varying extent of contamination at individual treatment sites.
Communities with the most severe and well-documented contamination levels, including residential areas near the former Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth and neighborhoods surrounding the Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics manufacturing facility in Merrimack, face particularly complex and expensive remediation challenges. In Merrimack, where PFAS contamination from years of industrial air emissions has affected thousands of private residential wells and the municipal water supply serving tens of thousands of residents, officials estimate that bringing the entire system into full compliance with the new federal standards will cost more than $60 million over the next several years.
Substantial federal funding is expected to help offset a meaningful portion of the enormous costs, with the EPA establishing a dedicated PFAS remediation grant program that will distribute approximately $9 billion nationally over a five-year period to eligible communities and water utilities. New Hampshire officials have already submitted detailed applications for initial funding allocations from this program and are working intensively with the EPA’s Region 1 office in Boston to expedite the review and approval process for the state’s most urgently affected and financially burdened communities.
The new federal regulations have also significantly intensified legal efforts throughout the state to hold PFAS manufacturers and major industrial users financially accountable for contamination cleanup costs. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced that the state is actively expanding its existing multi-front litigation against major PFAS chemical producers, seeking substantial damages that would help fund the required treatment system upgrades and reimburse communities that have already spent tens of millions of dollars on initial remediation measures. Several individual municipalities and water districts have filed their own parallel lawsuits as well, adding to the growing nationwide wave of PFAS-related litigation.
Water system operators across the state are currently evaluating the most effective and cost-efficient treatment options for their specific contamination profiles, with granular activated carbon filtration and ion exchange technologies emerging as the two most commonly considered and technically proven approaches for PFAS removal. These advanced treatment systems are demonstrably effective at removing PFAS compounds to well below the new regulatory limits but require significant capital investment in new infrastructure and substantial ongoing operational and maintenance costs that will inevitably be reflected in increased water rates for residential and commercial customers.
Public health advocates and environmental organizations have broadly praised the stricter federal regulations as an essential and overdue step in protecting public health, noting that extensive scientific research has linked PFAS exposure to increased risks of several types of cancer, thyroid disease, immune system dysfunction, reproductive problems, and developmental issues in children. Dr. Megan Romano, an epidemiologist at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine who has studied PFAS health effects extensively in New Hampshire communities, described the new standards as an important milestone in protecting public health, while cautioning that the full extent of PFAS contamination in the state’s environment and private water supplies remains unknown and that ongoing comprehensive monitoring and testing programs are absolutely essential.
