Hello all, Our team at Washington State Department of Health (DOH) heard from community members around the state that they need better, more actionable advice on the safety of eating home-grown fruits and vegetables from gardens watered with PFAS-contaminated water. … Continue reading Help Washington State Department of Health Understand Your PFAS Gardening Needs!
Collecting and properly disposing of “forever chemicals” Ecology is partnering with fire departments across the state to help protect firefighters from exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – or PFAS – in firefighting foams. Read more… Continue reading State launches disposal program for toxic firefighting foams
The new timeline could slow cleanup in some communities by nearly a decade. The chemicals, widely used in the military, are linked to cancers and other health risks. By Hiroko Tabuchi (The New York Times) Sept. 23, 2025 The Department of … Continue reading Defense Department Delays Cleanup of ‘Forever Chemicals’ Nationwide
PFAS found in beer John Lovie has a new post as part of his series on PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, “Forever Chemicals”) in drinking water. You can read all the previous PFAS posts here. Read today’s post here. Continue reading This feels personal
On the latest episode of Action Hour, the Whidbey Environmental Action Network’s podcast, host Amanda Bullis talks with John Lovie about the current state of drinking water on Whidbey and Camano Islands. Listen Now and check out John’s Substack, Mostly … Continue reading John Lovie talks Water on WEAN Action Hour
The Washington State Board of Health (Board) wants your feedback on draft updates to WACs 246-290-315 and 246-290-71006, regarding PFAS in Group A public water supplies. This is your chance to suggest changes, ask questions, or share your ideas. Your … Continue reading PFAS Permanent Rule Updates
The Navy is developing a Community Involvement Plan (CIP), a site-specific strategy to enable meaningful community involvement throughout the environmental clean-up process. The NAS Whidbey Island CIP will provide an opportunity for community members to comment on the Navy’s Environmental … Continue reading Navy’s Community Involvement Plan Questionnaire
As reported in the Whidbey News Times on Saturday, the U.S. Navy will host four public meetings to inform the community about its recent and ongoing efforts to test drinking water wells in sampling areas near Naval Air Station Whidbey … Continue reading Navy to host public meetings to address well water investigation
PFAS Statewide Funding Strategy: Four-Year Plan for Prevention, Reduction, and Mitigation in Washington State The legislature asked Dept of Ecology, in consultation with Dept of Health, to develop a funding strategy. The current state budget forecast shows a shortfall, so this big budget need arrives in a belt-tightening moment. It doesn’t mean it won’t get funded. The legislature will need to hear from impacted communities about whether they support these strategies, what is most important to do first, and if you think they should do something else instead. Continue reading Ecology releases four-year statewide funding strategy for PFAS
This news update is part of a series on PFAS (per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances, “Forever Chemicals”) in drinking water. You can read all the previous posts here. Continue reading Stone, meet water
At the end of the last update, we were left with three open issues: the Military’s response to the EPA’s new National Drinking Water Standard for PFAS; lawsuits challenging that standard; and testing of private wells with non-military sources of PFAS contamination. The last few months have brought us positive developments on two of these, and negative on the other. I’ll slide the bad news in between two slices of good. Continue reading A PFAS Sandwich
Last week, the WA Department of Health released the latest isntallement of PFAS Basics Videos on YouTube. From their email release: Some news to share…we launched our next three PFAS Basics Videos on YouTube today! These three videos cover steps you … Continue reading PFAS Basics Videos from DOH
A PFAS Diary It’s been a minute since we did a PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or “Forever Chemicals”) in drinking water roundup. If you’d like to start at the beginning of the PFAS saga, you can find all my … Continue reading Deference
https://tconnor.substack.com/p/fridays-postcard-and-the-spokane Finally…Eighty-three months have passed since PFAS “forever chemicals” were detected in groundwater at Spokane International Airport (SIA). On this timeline—against the backdrop of a years-long cover-up and the airport’s ‘get-off-my-lawn’ blame-shifting —today is significant. For the first time, SIA representatives are meeting with state Department of Ecology officials to begin implementing a cleanup plan for the notorious PFAS water pollution, a task that will likely extend well beyond the nine square miles encompassed by the airport’s boundaries. Continue reading Spokane airport (finally) hands its shoes to state regulators
‘Not a finish line’: For water providers, new PFAS rule is first step | HeraldNet.com The EPA’s new rule only applies to water suppliers that serve 15 or more residents, known as “Group A” water systems. At least 1 million Washington residents have private wells or use smaller water suppliers, called “Group B” systems. The Safe Drinking Water Act doesn’t protect these wells, some of which are near Harrington Lagoon. Those wells also likely have PFAS contamination, Lovie said. “They’re not eligible for any of the loans or grants that Group A water systems can get to take care of … Continue reading ‘Not a finish line’: For water providers, new PFAS rule is first step