The Suffolk County Water Authority (SCWA) announced at a press conference on June 10 that all water the organization provides its customers, around 85 percent of the county, is in full compliance with federal drinking water standards for two “forever chemicals.”

The water authority stated that, following testing in April, it found that all of its water treatment facilities had levels of PFOA and PFOS, two forever chemicals known for their adverse health effects, below the federally mandated limit of four parts per trillion.

“Today is a major victory for the people of Suffolk County,” Jeff Szabo, chief executive officer of the SWCA, said during the press conference beside four large granular-activated carbon-filter systems.

PFAS are a group of synthetic chemicals that have been used for decades in products such as non-stick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics, food packaging, and firefighting foam.

The two chemicals the SCWA said are at near-zero levels across the county, PFOA and PFOS, are both linked to adverse health effects like developmental issues, hormone disruption and cancers, including testicular, kidney, and thyroid cancer.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created enforceable standards for limiting PFOA and PFOS to four parts per trillion in April 2024 under the Biden Administration, but Szabo said the SCWA has been working to limit the number of these cancer-causing chemicals for years before that.

“This didn’t happen overnight,” Szabo said. “We began testing for PFAS back a decade ago, back in 2013, long before most utilities were even aware of the issue.”

Szabo said that in 2017, he joined with elected officials from across the state to demand that the EPA create a standard regulation for PFAS, and that the county water authority has been working since 2020 to install over 25 granular-activated carbon-filter facilities across the county, which can trap the forever chemicals from drinking water before residents consume it.

The SCWA stated that they’ve installed 17 of these filters in the past year alone, and that recent testing has shown the effectiveness of these carbon filters in removing the forever chemicals to non-detectable levels. The SCWA also said support for these facilities came in part from $16 million in grant funding from the state.

The federal deadline for water authorities across the nation to have drinking water levels below the four parts per trillion limit is 2031, and the SCWA authority said they’re six years ahead of that target.

The SCWA also stated that they’ll continue to regularly test for the two chemicals, and if detected, they’ll take the impacted well out of service until the chemicals can be removed.

Water officials also said they will hold companies responsible for polluting Long Island’s drinking water with these chemicals. The SCWA had previously joined with other water Long Island municipalities to sue the companies, including 3M, whose firefighting foam they claimed contained chemicals dangerous to human health and went into the island’s water supply.

3M settled with the water authority in 2023 for over $10 billion to support the removal of these chemicals, without admitting responsibility.

Charles Lefkowitz, chairman of the SCWA, thanked Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Citizens Campaign for the Environment and elected officials, including Suffolk County executive Ed Romaine, Brookhaven Town supervisor Dan Panico, State Sen. Monica Martinez, Gov. Kathy Hochul, and Suffolk County Legis. Kevin McCaffrey, for treating this water issue as a bipartisan effort.

“Safe, affordable drinking water in Suffolk County is a nonpartisan issue,” Lefkowitz said.

While the EPA standards for the two forever chemicals were created a year ago, the EPA, headed by former congressman Lee Zeldin, who President Donald Trump appointed earlier this year, rolled back regulations on four other forever chemicals that were previously on the same list of regulated chemicals.

The chemicals GenX, which some studies have shown to cause liver and kidney damage in animals, along with PFHxS, PFNA, and PFBA, were the four chemicals the EPA recently rolled back regulations on.

The EPA also recently delayed the deadline for water authorities to limit the number of PFOA and PFOS to 2031, from the original deadline of 2029.

Despite changes in federal regulations and other state regulations, Szabo said the SCWA is working to reduce all chemicals to their lowest possible levels.

“From our perspective at the [Suffolk County] Water Authority, they [the government] can do whatever they want,” Szabo said. “We’re treating to non-detect because it’s in the best interest of our customers.”