The California State Water Resources Control Board has announced an phased plan to investigate potential PFAS contamination in more than 1,000 California facilities. The first phase of the investigation plan will target airports and landfills, while the second and third phases, expected to launch later this year, will focus on refineries, bulk terminals, fire training facilities, wildfire areas, manufacturers, wastewater plants, and domestic wells. "The United States Environmental Protection Agency periodically requires monitoring of unregulated contaminants under what are called the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rules," Kamran Javandel, a partner at Allen Matkins, tells GlobeSt.com. "For its third round of UCMR testing in 2013-2015, EPA included six PFAS chemicals. That testing identified PFAS detections in 133 California public water systems. The State of California is now undertaking a comprehensive effort to understand the extent of PFAS contamination in groundwater in the state." The State Board unveiled the plan on March 6, and it is its first step in the effort to dig deeper into PFAS contamination throughout the state. "The State Water Resources Control Board announced a Phased Investigation Plan in which it will issue investigative orders to owners and operators of facilities where it believes PFAS were used, and to operators of drinking water wells near potential PFAS sources," adds Javandel. The first phase will look at 31 airports and 252 landfills where the State of California believes that PFAS chemicals are present or that may have accepted materials containing PFAS. "The State Board is also issuing investigative orders to operators of over 900 drinking water wells located near those airports and landfills, and almost 400 drinking water sources in locations near where PFAS were detected during the 2013-2015 EPA testing," Vaneeta Chintamaneni, an associate at Allen Matkins, tells GlobeSt.com. "We understand from speaking to Board staff that some or all of those orders already went out last week." The second phase will be broader in scope, but the State has yet to announce the facilities that will be reviewed. Ultimately, the investigation will include more than 1,000 facilities. "Although the State Board is still formulating Phases II and III, it has identified the types of facilities that will be targeted," says Chintamaneni. "In Phase II it will issue investigative orders to refineries, bulk terminals, and non-airport fire training facilities. Phase III will focus on secondary manufacturers—facilities that use PFAS in their processes or products—in addition to wastewater treatment plants, wastewater pre-treatment plants, and domestic wells. The State Board expects to issue Phase II and III orders in the summer and fall of this year." PFAS are a common class of chemicals, which have been used for years as a guard against grease and other stains. "Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known by the acronym PFAS, are a class of chemicals that were historically used in many industrial and consumer products, and in firefighting foam," says Javandel. "These chemicals were so widely used that the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry has reported that most people in the United States have one or more PFAS compounds in their blood. In recent years, regulators across the country have become increasingly focused on the widespread presence of PFAS in the environment and their potential toxicity at extremely low concentrations." While the phased plan will be executed this year, these investigations could be the beginning of more PFAS investigations and even regulation in California. "We can also expect the State of California and the federal government to move forward with additional investigation, regulation, and enforcement of PFAS use, handling, and disposal in the coming years," Javandel says, adding that there PFAS chemicals have been restricted in the last several years.. "In November 2017, California added two of the most commonly used chemicals in the PFAS family, PFOA and PFOS, to the Proposition 65 list of chemicals "known to the state" to cause reproductive toxicity. In July of last year California's Division of Drinking Water set notification levels of 13 ppt for PFOS and 14 ppt for PFOA, and a response level of 70 ppt for combined PFOA and PFOS. In February 2019, EPA announced its PFAS Action Plan. The Action Plan identified a number of short- and long-term actions that EPA plans to take in connection with PFAS, including establishment of drinking water standards and designation of PFAS as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund Law."