Water providers have three years to test and as long as two years after that to meet the finalized standards for the presence of so-called “forever chemicals” in drinking water announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The Parkersburg Utility Board won’t need that much time, with testing for one member of the forever chemical family of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) a regular occurrence for years and design of a multimillion-dollar filtration system about 90% complete.

C8, also known as perfluorooctanoic acid or PFOA, has been present in local water supplies for years as a result of its use in the Teflon-manufacturing process at the Washington Works plant south of Parkersburg.

The PUB’s water never had concentrations high enough to make it part of the class of water systems that had Washington Works owner DuPont pay for activated carbon filtration systems as part of the settlement of a class action lawsuit. Likewise, the levels did not require action under previous EPA guidelines.

But after the EPA issued a new, nonbinding lifetime drinking water advisory of 0.004 parts per trillion in 2022, the utility was approved to receive approximately $12.6 million from the West Virginia Infrastructure and Jobs Development Council for a filtration system. That money was provided to the state under the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed that year.

The price has since increased to slightly under $17 million, PUB Manager Eric Bennett said. However, the utility and its attorneys are in negotiations with Chemours, the DuPont spinoff that took ownership of Washington Works, over the settlement of a lawsuit against chemical manufacturer 3M related to contamination of water systems with PFAS. DuPont, Chemours and Corteva are part of that litigation and agreed to a combined $1.2 billion settlement.

“We are currently negotiating with Chemours,” Bennett said, adding that is expected to provide additional funding for the filtration system.

“I don’t see a case where the cost (of the system) would be passed on to the customer,” he said.

Bennett anticipates going out to bid in the next month or so for the first part of the project, the relocation of the Parkersburg Police Department gun range, to make room for the filtration system.

Williamstown’s water also has detectable levels of C8 and other PFAS substances, and Mayor Paul Jordan said Wednesday the city is considering its options to address it.

“We will continue to test. We will continue to plan,” he said. “We will have something in place. We just can’t do it tomorrow.”

Jordan emphasized that the quality of Williamstown’s water didn’t change but the measurements did. Still, he said his goal is to get a filtration system in place to comply with the requirements before the mandated deadline.

“We want to get the water in Williamstown to the safest it’s ever been,” he said. “We will be fine. We’ve just got to figure out what’s going to be the best for Williamstown.”

Chemours issued a statement Wednesday in response to the finalized requirements, saying it would review the final regulation but questioning “the underlying science used and the process EPA followed in developing the MCLs (maximum contaminant levels).”

“Chemours supports government regulation that is grounded in the best available science and follows the law,” the statement said. “Chemours has taken numerous steps to proactively address legacy constituents including installation of emissions control technologies, implementation of offsite drinking water programs and the comprehensive settlement to resolve all PFAS-related drinking claims of a defined class of U.S. water systems, which received final court approval on Feb. 8, 2024.”

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., also questioned the regulation in a statement Wednesday.

“Americans should be able to feel confident their drinking water is safe and clean,” she said. “For years, I have urged multiple administrations to issue a safe drinking water standard that is scientifically sound, based in reality and does not unfairly burden our local communities. Unfortunately, the standard set today by the administration doesn’t meet any of this criteria and takes the wrong approach, which will result in increased costs for local water systems and ultimately, ratepayers.”