water utility systems, nearly 50 in Texas—including Fort Worth’s—had levels above the EPA’s limits.
Besides providing drinking water to nearly one million Fort Worth residents, the city supplies several cities with drinking water, including
Keller and Roanoke. A November EPA report states PFAS are considered an “urgent threat.”
Exposure to certain PFAS includes increased risk of some cancers and organ damage, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“PFAS are everywhere in the world, including inside our homes, and we all played a role in it getting into our water,” Fort Worth Water Director Chris Harder said in the city’s 2023 Water Quality Report.
While the EPA states water system officials must take action on PFAS, the deadlines don’t begin until 2027. However, the cities are making plans to decrease PFAS in their drinking water.
The backstory
PFAS are a group of manufactured chemicals that have been used in industry applications and consumer products since the 1940s. According to the EPA, PFAS can get into drinking water when products containing them leach into groundwater or are released in the air, ending up in rivers and lakes.
Also known as “forever chemicals,” PFAS don’t break down easily, which can cause some forms to last in the environment for 1,000 years or more.
“Around 50% of our rivers and streams contain measurable PFAS concentrations,” said Carsten Prasse, assistant professor in Environmental Health and Engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
He added that food supplies can also contain PFAS.
“Unfortunately, PFAS are also present in biosolids which are used as agricultural fertilizer, creating a pathway from contaminated soil to produce in the grocery store,” Prasse said.
Zooming in
Fort Worth lists seven lakes and reservoirs, including Eagle Mountain Lake—the primary source for both Keller and Roanoke—as its water
sources, according to Fort Worth’s 2023 Water Quality Report.
The city also maintains five water treatment facilities. Two of those, the North Holly and South Holly Water Treatment Plants that treat source water at Lake Worth, had PFAS levels above the maximum levels, said Mary Gugliuzza, Fort Worth’s media and communications coordinator.
The 2023 water quality report states the two plants had averages of three PFAS compounds higher than the maximum contaminant level
under the EPA’s new regulations. However, Fort Worth’s overall numbers when the city’s five treatment plants are averaged together do not
exceed the EPA’s new PFAS compound limits.
Keller’s Public Works Director Alonzo Liñán said Fort Worth’s system is set up to be interconnected in case one source is compromised.
Liñán said the city now tests for 10 unregulated contaminants and is working with the Trinity River Authority to identify PFAS producers.
“No testing [for PFAS] has been done yet, so we cannot guess what might be over the incoming standards, if any,” Liñán said.
Roanoke’s Director of Public Works Shawn Wilkinson said the city’s system results are the same as Eagle Mountain Lake, which didn’t show traces of the six PFAS compounds enforced by the new EPA regulations.
Next steps
The EPA’s new regulations state public water systems have until 2027 to complete initial monitoring, followed by ongoing compliance monitoring, and give public information on PFAS levels.
The systems have until 2029 to apply solutions reducing PFAS if drinking water levels exceed maximum contaminant levels.
Systems violating one or more of those levels must enact solutions and notify the public. One EPA-approved solution is install
ing granular-activated carbon systems with charcoal filters to absorb certain chemicals.
Gugliuzza said Fort Worth conducted a PFAS treatment study in December 2023, which evolved into designing treatment process facilities for the city’s two plants.
Construction should begin in 2026 and $142 million is budgeted over a five-year period in the Capital Improvements Plan budget.
Liñán said Keller is not currently testing for PFAS compounds but remains in “preparation mode” with the new regulations.
“Once the requirements and testing needs are clearer, we’ll be able to assess what additional needs the city has, if any, and address those as part of our annual budget discussions,” Liñán said.
Wilkinson said in 2016, Roanoke Public Works created a water quality compliance position to oversee the quality of the distribution system. Another compliance job was created in January 2024. Carissa Katekaru, the city’s communications and marketing administrator, said the position was added “based on the increasing amount of regulations in water monitoring.”
What can be done
Since PFAS compounds have a ubiquitous presence in everyday lives, the National Institute of Health states 98% of the U.S. population has detectable concentrations in their blood.
While the EPA and cities are trying to minimize this, health officials are concerned.
“We estimate there are more than 12,000 individual PFAS compounds, and unfortunately for most of them, we have basically no understanding about toxicity,” Prasse said.
There are steps people can take to minimize potential exposure to PFAS. The EPA’s website states certain filtration systems can remove PFAS from drinking water, which can be installed in homes in one of two ways:
- Point of entry—where water enters the home underground
- Point of use—a kitchen sink or a shower
