After completing all necessary requirements, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) has certified the City of Dayton Department of Water for testing for PFAS, making Dayton the first municipal or commercial laboratory in Ohio to achieve this certification. This occurs well ahead of updated federal PFAS regulations taking effect in 2027.
“I am proud of our team for this accomplishment,” explains Department of Water Director Mike Powell. “Our excellent water professionals have once again shown that Dayton’s water utility is a true industry leader. This continues Dayton’s long legacy of proactive protection of our water resources and responsiveness to changing regulatory requirements.”
Dayton’s PFAS testing certification benefits the community in a number of ways. Dayton’s samples will be processed sooner, enabling the Department to make operational adjustments more quickly. It will also help the Department save resources, as the average cost of testing one PFAS sample can range from $600 to $800. In 2023, the Dayton laboratory analyzed over 400 samples and is on target to analyze the same number of samples in 2024, likely increasing once a new treatment facility is built.
Dayton can also now analyze outside samples, putting the City in a position to monetize this capability to benefit the Department’s initiatives. An analytical capacity shortage across the country gives Dayton an advantage over other water systems.
Dayton’s water laboratory first passed the on-site portion of the PFAS certification process in early August before providing quality control data to OEPA. After OEPA received and accepted that data at the end of the month, Dayton became certified to adjust the PFAS detection level from 5.0 ppt (parts per trillion) to 2.0 ppt for all regulated PFAS samples.
PFAS – or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – are a group of manmade chemicals including PFOA and PFOS found in a wide range of everyday products such as coatings for textiles, paper products, and cookware. They have also been used to make some firefighting foams in the aerospace and aviation industries and at military bases across the nation. In 2023, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a reduced maximum contaminant level (MCL) for PFAS in response to increased health concerns surrounding these chemicals.
The Department of Water shares the results of testing with the Ohio EPA monthly while voluntarily and continually working with the U.S. and Ohio EPA to address PFAS. Most importantly, the City works to stop PFAS-contaminated groundwater from reaching monitoring and production wells.
Dayton has more than 500 groundwater monitoring wells placed around the City’s water production wells and wellfields. These monitoring wells are used to identify groundwater contaminants. The system is designed so that monitoring wells can detect contaminants in groundwater before it reaches production wells. Dayton’s water distribution system is tested daily from many locations within the city. Also, water treatment plant employees continuously monitor several water quality parameters and the values are validated every two hours by plant personnel.
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The City of Dayton Department of Water treats and serves 23 billion gallons of water each year through 800 miles of water mains to 400,000 residents and businesses in Dayton and surrounding areas. Learn more at DaytonWater.org.