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SB 555 is a Senate Bill that requires the State Water Board to develop water loss standards for urban water suppliers between 2019 and 2020 and to evaluate life-cycle costs of achieving these standards. Urban water suppliers will be required to take action on developing methods of mitigating water loss and for meeting, and continuing to meet, acceptable water loss rates beginning in 2036. To view more details about the SB 555 timeline and urban water supplier requirements, download the summary below. To see information about stakeholder meetings and implementation information, visit the State Water Board website.
"Mizzou researchers discover way to break down forever chemicals"
Per- and polyfluoroalkyls (PFAS) are industrial chemicals used in the manufacture of thousands of products, including cosmetics, carpeting, non-stick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics, firefighting foams, food packaging and water-proof clothing.
They’re everywhere — the environment, our food, even in peoples’ bodies. Peer-reviewed studies have shown that exposure to PFAS may lead to decreased fertility, developmental delays in children and increased risk of some cancers. And they take hundreds or even thousands of years to break down.
For roughly the past 10 years, researchers have been looking for ways to remove PFAS from the environment or at least degrade them into harmless, inorganic compounds. Now Mizzou Engineers have found a simple solution using common tools and materials.
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Feng “Frank” Xiao, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Mizzou, is an expert in degrading PFAS.
“You don’t need organic solvent or really high temperatures,” Xiao said. “Just heat the PFAS with granular activated carbon (GAC).”
GAC is composed of granules of coal, wood or other carbon-rich materials that have been heated. It is already commonly used to filter a wide range of harmful chemicals from contaminated water or air. Consumers use it to clean household aquariums or filter drinking water, and it can be purchased online for just a few dollars per pound.
In a paper recently published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology (ES&T), Xiao and his team describe how they heated PFAS with common GAC at 572° F. As a result, the researchers achieved 90% mineralization of the PFAS, breaking the forever chemicals down into harmless, inorganic fluorine.
Before now, reaching this level of mineralization required temperatures in excess of 1292° F, high pressure or solvents. Xiao’s method is much more cost effective and sustainable, as GAC is cheap and can be reheated again and again.
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"Trump administration scraps plan for stricter rules on PFAS"
New federal regulations were enacted last year limiting the amount of PFAS in public drinking water to less than four parts per trillion. Former and current Trump administration officials had sent mixed signals on whether the federal government would maintain the Biden administration’s strict PFAS regulatory framework or lessen their requirements.
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But the new direction became clear only a couple days after Trump took office when the Environmental Protection Agency announced it scrapped plans to regulate PFAS being discharged by corporations in wastewater. These draft guidelines had been sent to the White House last year before they were released for public review.
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PFAS regulation also was targeted by the writers of Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation document outlining potential policies for a second Trump administration. The new president and his allies distanced themselves from the controversial document in the fall campaign but has since nominated Russ Vought, one of the document’s authors, as Office of Management and Budget director.
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Project 2025 calls for the federal government to “revisit the designation” of PFAS as a hazardous substance.
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Environmental advocates have indicated they will take legal action against the Trump administration to prevent PFAS regulations from weakening.
