Arkansas has committed $1.8 million to begin testing surface waters for PFAS, a toxic group of industrial chemicals, marking its first comprehensive effort to track and identify sources of contamination.
Ainsley Platt reports for the Arkansas Advocate.
In short:
- The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission approved a grant to fund PFAS testing in the state’s surface waters, with the work led by the Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ) through a multi-year, phased project.
- The move comes as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, under shifting federal leadership, changes course on PFAS regulation — scrapping some water limits while delaying others until 2031.
- State officials say it’s more cost-effective to prevent PFAS contamination at the source than to try removing the chemicals from drinking water, and note suspected contamination beyond known sites has yet to be investigated.
Key quote:
“It would be much cheaper to prevent it from contaminating our waters of the state than to remove it on the backside after it’s already been contaminated.”
— Stacie Wassell, head of Arkansas DEQ’s Office of Water Quality
Why this matters:
PFAS compounds are found in everything from firefighting foams to food packaging, and they accumulate in human blood and ecosystems over time. Despite growing evidence of harm, many states — including Arkansas — lack drinking water standards or cleanup mandates. While the Biden administration had moved to regulate PFAS under Superfund law and set drinking water limits, the Trump administration is delaying enforcement and rolling back parts of the plan. This leaves communities, especially those near industrial or military sites, increasingly vulnerable. Testing surface waters is a key step to understanding how these chemicals move through rivers, lakes, and streams—and how they might reach people. Without baseline data, communities can't fully assess the risk or seek accountability from polluters. That makes Arkansas’ new monitoring initiative a critical, if overdue, development in the face of widespread and largely invisible contamination.
Related EHN coverage: Millions in the U.S. may rely on PFAS-contaminated drinking water
