On May 2, the United States Environmental Protection Agency had an event with local community leaders to discuss new water treatment facilities coming to Marana and new federal regulations about Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).
The event took place at one of Maranas water treatment facilities located at 8570 N. Continental Reserve Loop.
The new EPA regulations were announced April 10, but EPA Regional Administrator Martha Guzman said Marana and Tucson are both ahead of things.
The final National Primary Water Regulation is intended to prevent PFAS exposure in drinking water in the coming years.
Districts, water providers have three years to do monitoring, Guzman said. Really assess what the issue is in their service area. Something Marana and Tucson already know, (they are) way ahead of the game.
According to the EPA, PFAS are widely used, long lasting chemicals which can have negative health effects.
Town of Marana Water Director Jing Luo said the town has been tackling the issues for years, but now everyone else also has to follow.
Thats definitely a step up to protect the public health for all citizens in the United States, Luo said.
Guzman said Tucson has also been addressing drinking water issues.
Because they had already been looking at the issue and monitoring groundwater, they found PFAS and they started to look for it more and really build an assessment where it was, how it was migrating underneath in our groundwater, Guzman said.
Marana and part of the district are also receiving Bipartisan Infrastructure Law funding to add new water treatment facilities.