ADEQ outlines PFAS sampling, funding and mitigation options for Yavapai County area

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality staff briefed the Prescott City Council Subcommittee on Water Issues on Oct. 7 about the state’s PFAS sampling, monitoring and mitigation work and funding available to small and disadvantaged communities.

Sarah Conrad, grant project manager in ADEQ’s drinking-water section, said ADEQ has sampled many small public water systems and built a priority list for mitigation work. She told the subcommittee that Prescott is considered a disadvantaged community and therefore eligible for state-administered federal funding targeted to PFAS mitigation.

Conrad walked members through the federal regulatory backdrop. She said that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency established maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) for several PFAS compounds — including PFOA and PFOS at 4 parts per trillion — and that public water systems are in initial monitoring and compliance phases under the EPA schedule. She noted that EPA has signaled possible adjustments to parts of the rule and separate compliance-date rulemaking, and that final dates and legal challenges remain possible.

ADEQ has focused early sampling on systems serving 3,300 people or fewer; wherever EPA’s UCMR‑5 program covers larger systems, ADEQ’s work was designed to ensure the state’s smaller, often rural systems were not left out. Conrad said ADEQ’s sampling found a roughly similar share of systems with detections and exceedances as EPA’s sampling, and that the state has identified about 88 small systems on a priority list for assistance.

Conrad described funding and program mechanics. ADEQ manages an Emerging Contaminants fund received via the federal bipartisan infrastructure law and, as of Oct. 1, had about $84 million available to help small and disadvantaged systems with PFAS mitigation. The grants are not structured as reimbursement-based; ADEQ contracts for design and construction and pays vendors directly, she said, though the funding cannot be used for long-term operation and maintenance. Projects supported so far include interconnections of mobile home parks to nearby municipal systems, booster pump and distribution modifications, pilot testing, and feasibility work.

Conrad and city staff discussed local concerns, including a cluster of high PFAS readings in the Dry Gulch/Hoo Quaygon area west of Williamson Valley Road that local officials said may reflect historic industrial activity and septic-system pathways. Steve Olfers, Prescott utilities manager, said discussions with EPA and Yavapai County are underway and that the city will bring any formal proposals about mitigation and infrastructure to the council when they are ready.

ADEQ staff also summarized treatment technologies EPA has identified as best available for PFAS removal — ion exchange, granular activated carbon and reverse osmosis — and flagged practical challenges: pilot testing is often needed, spent media may be regulated as hazardous waste and long-term O&M costs can be prohibitive for small systems. On point-of-use/point-of-entry devices, Conrad said current certification levels generally do not meet the new MCLs and that ADEQ will not issue permits for point-of-use PFAS treatment until certifications align with federal MCLs.

Conrad encouraged early contact with ADEQ for communities that suspect PFAS and described ADEQ decision tools, webinars and a planned PFAS forum to be held in Phoenix in March. “Prescott is considered a disadvantaged community, and so you would be eligible for this funding,” Conrad said during her presentation.

No formal action was taken at the subcommittee; city staff and ADEQ agreed to continue technical coordination on local sampling, pilot testing and options for possible interconnections or treatment.