This map shows the presence of PFAS detected in local waterways.
“EPA set strict limits for PFAS in drinking water in 2024 that will officially take effect in 2029, giving us time to put new treatments in place.”
— Susan Miller, Public Affairs Manager for Fairfax Water
“30 percent of the state’s budget relies on federal funding in some way. … That’s a lot.”
— Del. David Bulova
The news was both grim and hopeful on April 11, when officials at the Potomac Watershed Roundtable heard about the Potomac River basin and area water supplies. The 45-person gathering convened at George Mason University’s Potomac Environment Research and Education Center (PEREC) in Lorton.
The Roundtable is a regional group of local government and stakeholder groups in the middle and lower Potomac River watershed, from Northumberland to Loudoun counties and in between.
Del. David Bulova, who represents the Fairfax City-area 11th district, reported on the 2025 General Assembly session: “We just survived.” Gov. Glenn Youngkin is now considering final actions on some bills. “The governor used the veto pen quite freely,” Bulova said.
While some measures await the governor’s decisions, the legislature increased funding for wastewater plant upgrades, stormwater assistance, environmental literacy and state parks and funded a study of cumulative impacts of surface water intakes, Bulova said. “We felt super good, but the governor was in more of a cutting mood.”
On data center legislation, “It’s in great flux,” Bulova said. “They won’t go away unless AI goes away or we pack up our cellphones. We are really struggling.” Virginia is a tax-friendly state for data centers, Bulova said, but policy makers should “reduce impacts and plan for future impacts on the electric grid and the ecosystem. What we have now is not sustainable. It’s a huge issue in 2026 and beyond.”
Bulova highlighted a bill, now law, that requires retailers by 2027 to post signs that label certain specified plants as invasive.
Under the heading of “storm clouds,” Bulova discussed the new Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Reductions, which he chairs, formed to respond to recent federal actions, including funding cuts in Virginia. “It is really, really important work,” he said. “We simply need to be prepared.” Bulova reported that “30 percent of the state’s budget relies on federal funding in some way.” For health and human services, 59 percent of the state budget is federally funded; for veterans, 49 percent; for natural resources, 22 percent. “That’s a lot,” he said.
Forever Chemicals
On PFAS chemicals, Bulova said that the governor signed his bill requiring “polluters, not water users, to pay” if a facility discharges PFAS chemicals into the Occoquan River and Reservoir at levels above U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits. PFAS stands for perfluoroalkyl or polyfluoroalkyl substances, a group of over 10,000 chemicals designed to resist water, dirt, oil, grease and heat.
Robert Bowcock with the California firm Integrated Resource Management waded through complicated PFAS details. They are persistent, manmade, not naturally occurring and have been used since the 1940 Manhattan Project when Dupont invented them, he said. They are in everyday products like non-stick cookware, clothes, carpets, personal care products, food and firefighting foam, and they are used in many industries, including aerospace, automotive, construction and electronics.
“We’ve known they are a problem for 30 years,” Bowcock said, adding that they are common in sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plants, called biosolids, and if biosolids are stored in landfills, they can leak into water supplies. “Every landfill liner leaks,” he asserted. “It’s a vicious cycle into our rivers.”
People can be exposed to these chemicals from drinking water, eating certain foods, including fish, using products made with PFAS or breathing air that contains them. Exposure to certain levels of PFAS may lead to adverse reproductive effects, developmental effects in children, risk of some cancers and reduced immune responses, according to EPA.
“PFAS in wastewater can be treated,” Bowcock said, “but it is expensive.” He cited activated carbon treatment and ion exchange as possible methods. EPA says that “a home filter could be an effective way to reduce PFAS levels.”
EPA published national drinking water standards for six PFAS chemicals in 2024, but Bowcock contended that states will “be regulating more than EPA.” For PFAS chemicals in biosolids, EPA has not set numeric limits, but the agency is now accepting comments on a draft sewage sludge risk assessment for some of the chemicals.
Bowcock said that the Upper Occoquan Service Authority wastewater treatment plant in Centreville is discharging 75 parts per trillion in PFAS chemicals, a measure that is troubling, but “not catastrophic,” he said.
Susan Miller, Public Affairs Manager for Fairfax Water, emailed that her agency is identifying sources and evaluating treatment options. “As your water utility, we didn’t create PFAS, but it’s our job to ensure your drinking water meets federal standards for PFAS. EPA set strict limits for PFAS in drinking water in 2024 that will officially take effect in 2029, giving us time to put new treatments in place.”
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) monitors PFAS and DEQ’s map shows detections all over the state at https://www.deq.virginia.gov/topics-of-interest/per-and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas.
Other presenters were Dr. Christian Jones, PEREC’s director, who described the center’s programs, including ecological studies in Fairfax County’s Gunston Cove and Hunting Creek. Rebecca Murphy, with the Northern Virginia Regional Commission, who explained salt management outreach efforts.
More information
https://www.potomacroundtable.org/
https://www.epa.gov/pfas/pfas-explained
https://www.fairfaxwater.org/water-quality/facts-about-pfas