20th Annual EPA Drinking Water Workshop: Session 5B
Contaminants of Immediate and Emerging Concern
Track B: Source, Treatment, and Operations
Presentation summaries and speaker and moderator biographies for Session 5B of the 20th Annual EPA Drinking Water Workshop.
September 13, 2023 from 8:30 to 10:15 a.m. ET
See the full workshop agenda for all sessions.
Moderator:
Ashley Voskuhl, B.S. | Association of State Drinking Water Administrators
Ashley is a senior policy analyst with ASDWA, where she focuses primarily on the Lead and Copper Rule (LCR), regulatory implementation, engineering and standards, and compliance and enforcement. Prior to joining ASDWA in January 2022, Ashley spent five years as an environmental specialist with Ohio EPA’s Division of Drinking and Ground Waters, working on regulatory development and implementation with a specific focus on the LCR, unregulated contaminants, and engineering standards. She previously worked at U.S. EPA’s Office of Research and Development where she conducted research on the impacts of corrosion on lead in drinking water. Ashley received her B.S. in chemical engineering from The Ohio State University.
Analytical Methods for Microplastic Detection in Drinking Water
Microplastic contamination raises concerns in drinking water quality due to difficulties in removing them during treatment and potential for contaminant leaching. EPA’s Office of Research and Development is interested in developing sampling and analytical methods for microplastic detection, along with investigating their potential adverse effects on human health and the environment. Microplastic characterization capabilities at EPA’s research labs in Cincinnati, Ohio will be presented. Special attention will be paid to applications and specific obstacles regarding drinking water matrices. Current and planned work in this field will be discussed.
Phillip Potter, Ph.D. | EPA Office of Research and Development
Phillip is a physical scientist with the EPA's Office of Research and Development, Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response in Cincinnati, OH. His current research includes thermal remediation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), nano- and microplastic environmental occurrence, and fate of engineered nanomaterials in the environment. Phillip holds a Ph.D. in chemistry from Louisiana State University, where is work included studying formation mechanisms for dioxins in incineration systems.
Minnesota’s Drinking Water Emerging Contaminants Program
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is the primary agency for the implementation of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in the state. In addition to the monitoring of public water supplies for regulated contaminants as required under SDWA, MDH has been systematically expanding monitoring for various groups of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs). This presentation will trace the evolution of these efforts, explain the underlying principles, and present the development and launch of the ultimate objective―an ongoing, permanent program and staff capacity to address concerns about public health exposure to CECs and other contaminants in drinking water and support advanced decision making to secure long-term water resource management, especially regarding drinking water sources.
The first organized effort in Minnesota was the Unregulated Contaminants Monitoring Project, which commenced in 2018. Under this project, MDH conducted reconnaissance monitoring of selected public water systems and sampling was conducted in 2019 and 2021. The samples were analyzed for a variety of CECs, including selected pharmaceuticals, pesticides, PFAS, wastewater indicators, and other parameters chosen for the physical and land use setting surrounding the sampling points. Another more focused effort was aimed at identifying community public water systems with higher levels of manganese. This effort was driven by increasing awareness of and concerns about the health effects of exposure at levels above state and federal guidelines. It sought to build on manganese monitoring conducted under the Third Unregulated Contaminants Monitoring Rule and earlier state efforts. This was followed by the launch of the Statewide PFAS Monitoring of Community Public Water Supplies (CPWS), which was initiated in 2020. By 2023, the goal of testing all CPWS in the state for PFAS was largely accomplished, providing an essential baseline dataset for managing the implementation of expected federal regulations and updated state guidelines. Finally, following legislative approval and funding appropriation by the 2023 Minnesota Legislature, MDH is preparing for the launch of the Drinking Water Ambient Monitoring Program. This program will be incorporated into the core operations of Minnesota’s Drinking Water Program and will provide for ongoing monitoring for emerging contaminants primarily at an established network of groundwater and surface water sites at selected community and non-community public water systems.
Sandeep Burman, M.S. | Minnesota Department of Health
Sandeep has worked in leadership roles on multiple aspects of investigating and remediating the environmental and public health impacts of CECs, including PFAS, for over a decade. Since November 2018, he has served as the state drinking water administrator for Minnesota, a position that resides in the Minnesota Department of Health. He leads Minnesota’s Drinking Water Program, which has primacy for administration of the SDWA in the State. In this role, he is responsible for oversight of the State’s efforts to address all known CEC impacts in public water supplies, as well as a major effort to assess the statewide occurrence of PFAS in drinking water. He is a member of ASDWA and serves on their PFAS Workgroup. In that capacity he participated in the development of two key resources on CEC and PFAS, “State CEC Rule Development and Management toolkit,” and “PFAS Source Water Guide and Toolkit.” From 2013 to 2018, Sandeep was the Manager of the Superfund Program with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He led the investigation and cleanup of PFAS contaminated sites across the state, including the regional contamination in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. He also served on the Board of Directors and the PFAS Workgroup of the Association of State and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials (ASTSWMO), was the ASTSWMO representative at U.S. EPA’s National Leadership Summit on PFAS in May 2018, and testified on behalf of ASTSWMO at the U.S. House of Representatives hearing on “Perfluorinated Chemicals in the Environment: An Update on the Response to Contamination and Challenges Presented” in September 2018. He also served as one of the founding co-chairs of the Environmental Commission of the States (ECOS) PFAS Caucus and was involved in the development of the ECOS White Paper, “Processes and Considerations for Setting State PFAS Standards.” In November 2021, he was appointed to U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board PFAS Review Panel, charged with supporting National Primary Drinking Water rulemaking for PFAS. Sandeep holds an M.S. in hydrogeology (civil engineering minor) from the University of Minnesota and an M.S. in applied geology from the Indian Institute of Technology. He is a licensed professional geoscientist in Minnesota.
Emerging Contaminants in the U.S. Pacific Islands
Guam faces unique challenges in implementing upcoming PFAS regulations given its small size, isolated location, and current PFAS contamination levels. Guam is only 212 square miles (around the size of Chicago) with one sole aquifer, and two large military bases occupy about a third of the island. The island is over 4,000 miles west of Hawaii, which leads to various supply chain and disposal challenges for water treatment. This presentation will highlight PFAS contamination in Guam by mapping PFAS data from the two largest PWSs on-island: Guam Waterworks Authority and the U.S. Naval Base. An outlook on anticipated challenges in implementing upcoming PFAS regulations will also be provided.
Amanda Quay, Ph.D. | EPA Region 9
Quay is the EPA Region 9 program manager for the Safe Drinking Water Act authorized primacy programs in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands. In Region 9, she also provides emerging contaminant technical expertise for EC supplemental State Revolving Funds. Quay holds a Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering from Stanford University and an M.S. in engineering and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University.
Sierra Bettis, B.A.Sc. | Guam Environmental Protection Agency
Sierra is with Guam EPA, where her main tasks are the Guam Waterworks Authority (GWA) sanitary survey and GWA compliance. Additionally, she manages PFAS data and any future MCLs, Application Review Committee, and the Source Water Protection Program. Sierra holds a B.A.Sc. in environmental hydrology and water resources for the University of Arizona. At the university, she was a project intern for the Hydrology Department under Dr. Thomas Meixner, helping with green infrastructure in Tucson, Arizona. Sierra also worked for the University of Guam Sea Grant Program to map the Ugum Watershed for their Guam Restoration and Watersheds Initiative by highlighting the eroded areas.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in these presentations are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Any mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute EPA endorsement or recommendation for use.