Montana committee hears resolution to plan study of pharmaceuticals and contaminants in state waters

The House Natural Resources Committee on Thursday heard from the bill sponsor and state water officials about a proposed resolution to develop a two-year plan for studying pharmaceuticals and other emerging contaminants in Montana’s waters.

The sponsor — who identified himself in the transcript as Zack Worth — described the measure as "a resolution to allow us to create a plan that then would allow us to do some studies," saying he wanted a broad, open-ended study to establish a baseline for future action. He cited anecdotal changes near his ranch and research from other states as reasons for pursuing a planning effort rather than immediate regulatory changes.

Lindsey Krivaruchka, Water Quality Division Administrator at the Department of Environmental Quality, told the committee that DEQ’s role is to set water-quality criteria that protect “beneficial uses” of water and that federal work, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s risk assessments for PFAS and similar contaminants, provides a starting point for defining protective levels. "The EPA does what's called a risk assessment ... and that's really the start of how we start defining what is high quality water, what is protective," she said.

Krivaruchka also warned that the analytical methods required to detect many pharmaceutical compounds at environmentally relevant concentrations are specialized and costly. "Specific to this study there are no laboratories in Montana that currently have this capacity," she said, adding that testing often requires methods capable of detecting pollutants at parts-per-trillion levels. She recommended that any future study focus on known hotspots and existing monitoring sites to maximize value while limiting cost.

Lawmakers pressed the sponsor and DEQ on the study’s scope and likely costs. Representative Tim Carlin asked whether PFAS — the so-called "forever chemicals" — could be included; the sponsor agreed the resolution was intended to be wide-ranging and said he had "absolutely no problem" including PFAS. Representative Marler questioned the prominence of an "intersex fish" example in the sponsor’s handout and cautioned against attributing broader human fertility trends primarily to contaminants, noting social and demographic factors also influence reproduction rates.

The sponsor described the resolution as a first step intended to produce a solid plan and a cost estimate for future legislatures: the bill would authorize a planning period (the sponsor indicated two years) to determine where and when testing should take place and to gather existing data from across the watershed. He noted Montana’s waters flow into multiple interstate basins and urged development of a robust monitoring baseline.

The committee did not take a vote; the chair closed the hearing and said the item would be held while members gather more information. Committee staff and DEQ agreed to provide the committee with details on current DEQ monitoring parameters, laboratory capabilities, and cost estimates for testing and treatment.

What happens next: the resolution would lead to an interim study to develop the plan described by the sponsor; if the study identifies statutory or rulemaking needs, DEQ said those would proceed through the state’s public rulemaking process.