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State regulators outline PFAS findings, urge private well testing in Santa Cruz County
Summary
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials told the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors that most public water systems in the state showed no PFAS detections, but some systems along the Santa Cruz River corridor have levels above federal limits; ADEQ urged private well owners to review guidance and consider sampling.
Matt Narder, senior hydrogeologist at the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, told the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors that ADEQ has been collecting PFAS data across the state and is working to inform private well owners in Santa Cruz County.
“PFAS are a big group of chemicals,” Narder said, describing how the compounds, sometimes called “forever chemicals,” persist in the environment and can accumulate in people. He said federal drinking-water limits enacted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency apply to public water systems and that ADEQ has been helping smaller systems meet sampling requirements ahead of those rules.
ADEQ’s statewide data, Narder said, show roughly 80% of sampled public systems had no PFAS detections, about 10% had detections below the EPA limits and roughly 11% of systems had measured PFAS above the new federal maximum contaminant levels. He told supervisors that detections in Santa Cruz County are concentrated along the I-19 corridor and the Santa Cruz River and that larger systems such as the City of Nogales have publicly available UCMR results showing no detections in the wells sampled for that round.
The department emphasized differences between public systems and private wells. ADEQ officials said public systems must comply with monitoring rules and must notify customers; private wells are not regulated by ADEQ and owners must decide whether to test. Narder said ADEQ and the Arizona Department of Health Services are developing resources and an online interest form that could be used to sample private wells if funding is available.
Board members and members of the public raised questions about potential cross-border sources and the role of wastewater, and about treatment options for homeowners. Narder said PFAS sources are often diffuse — landfills, wastewater plants and septic systems — and that ADEQ has seen PFAS in both the influent and effluent at at least one municipal treatment plant. He said treatment options such as reverse-osmosis or NSF-certified filters can reduce exposure but that homeowners should consult qualified vendors and verify certifications.
ADEQ offered printed fact sheets and links to its interactive PFAS map and sampling guidance, and Narder provided contact information for ADEQ staff to follow up with county officials and residents.
The board directed staff to work with state agencies on public outreach so private well owners can learn about testing options and to explore whether a county-level announcement or report on local PFAS conditions would be useful.
