EPA puts microplastics, drugs on tap water list

What happened

Environmental Protection Agency chief Lee Zeldin on Thursday said his agency has added microplastics and pharmaceuticals to a draft list of contaminants in drinking water, describing it as a “historic step” for the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a MAHA champion, joined Zeldin at Thursday’s briefing to announce a $144 million initiative to study and measure microplastics in drinking water.

Who said what

“This is a direct response to the concern of millions of Americans, who have long demanded answers about what they and their families are drinking every day,” said Zeldin at the briefing. The EPA is required to update the Contaminant Candidate List every five years under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Adding microplastics and pharmaceuticals to the list “gives local regulators a tool to evaluate risks in their water supply,” NPR said, but it “doesn’t actually guarantee” research or contaminant limits. In fact, the EPA “rarely moves pollutants off the list” and into regulatory action, The Associated Press said. “I think it’s fair to call this theater,” Katherine O’Brien, an attorney with nonprofit Earthjustice, told NPR, especially as “these very same agencies” are doing “real harm” by “undermining actual legal protections” against toxic chemicals in drinking water and food. “This is an important first step,” Gannon University plastic pollution researcher Sherri Mason told NPR, “and I think we should recognize that.”

What next?

The draft Contaminant Candidate List will be open for public comment for 60 days and is expected to be finalized by mid-November.