The Biden administration has cast its strict new drinking water rules for toxic forever chemicals as a win for public health. But they could also spur more sales of public water systems to private companies, a controversial move that often raises costs and takes control of a vital service out of the community’s hands.
The new limits — the first ever for the group of chemicals known as PFAS that are linked with cancer, immune problems and hypertension — are incredibly low, extremely expensive and mind-bendingly complicated. The majority of the nation’s public water utilities don’t have the technical capacity and financial capital that complying with the rules will require, water sector experts say. But the private water industry does.
“This PFAS rule could end up being a real driver of privatization in a lot of places,” said Manuel Teodoro, a public affairs professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who studies the water sector.
But privatization comes with a cost. A 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office found that water rates charged by private water utilities averaged $15 to $21 per month more than those charged by similar public utilities. And that additional cost may be difficult for low-income households to bear.
