Sweetwater Authority reports stable PFAS results but intake-tower lab data delayed; staff to issue RFQ for treatment planning

The Sweetwater Authority Board of Directors heard an update on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water on April 23, with staff reporting April sampling similar to March and a running annual average for PFOA below state response levels.

The update came as the authority continues quarterly monitoring under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR5) and the state's new national primary drinking water standard implementation. Justin, a Sweetwater staff member presenting the item, said the authority is using UCMR5 laboratory results both to meet federal monitoring and to calculate compliance under the state framework. "A couple of weeks ago, we did present some updates on PFAS data," Justin told the board, adding that April results were "very similar to what we sampled a few weeks prior in March." He noted that laboratory reprocessing can change reported values and that some results shown as "not detected" on first reporting can appear as small positive values after reprocessing.

Why it matters: PFAS are a class of persistent…