The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is responsible for protecting public health and the environment by regulating discharges of wastewater to Michigan's surface waters and groundwater. Regulated wastewater consists of publicly owned treatment work discharges, industrial wastewater, and industrial stormwater.
Anyone discharging wastewater into waters of the state is required by law to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit or a Groundwater Discharge permit. The NPDES and Groundwater programs regulate municipalities and industries that discharge directly into lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater by limiting pollutants, including some per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), and requiring other protections.
EGLE is undertaking several efforts to address PFAS in wastewater discharged to surface waters and groundwater. These actions are detailed in the sections below. Learn more about EGLE's PFAS sampling of surface water.
Surface waters are lakes, streams, wetlands, county drains, roadside ditches that drain to lakes, rivers, etc.
Groundwater is water below the land surface in a zone of saturation.
Michigan has water quality values (WQV or Michigan Rule 57 values) for discharges to surface waters for five PFAS, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS) and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA).
PFOS has led to fish consumption advisories for some Michigan rivers because it bioaccumulates so readily in fish and has potential human health effects if eaten.
|
PFAS |
Established date |
|
|---|---|---|
|
PFOS |
11 |
May 2014 |
|
PFOA |
66 |
July 2022 |
|
PFBS |
8,300 |
July 2022 |
|
PFHxS |
59 |
October 2023 |
|
PFNA |
19 |
October 2023 |
¹ WQVs are listed in ppt (parts per trillion which is equivalent to nanograms per liter (ng/L)).
² drinking water source WQV applies to WWTPs discharging to waterbody used for drinking water.
|
PFAS |
Established date |
|
|---|---|---|
|
PFOS |
12 |
May 2014 |
|
PFOA |
170 |
July 2022 |
|
PFBS |
670,000 |
July 2022 |
|
PFHxS |
210 |
October 2023 |
|
PFNA |
30 |
October 2023 |
¹ WQVs are listed in ppt (parts per trillion which is equivalent to nanograms per liter (ng/L)).
² drinking water source WQV applies to WWTPs discharging to waterbody used for drinking water.
Michigan has generic cleanup criteria for groundwater used as drinking water under Part 201 for seven PFAS, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorohexanesulfonic acid (PFHxS), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), and hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA or GenX).
Municipalities and industries that discharge to groundwater are subject to the Part 201 criteria in their compliance groundwater monitoring wells.
|
PFAS |
Generic cleanup criteria (ppt)1 |
|---|---|
|
PFOS |
16 |
|
PFOA |
8 |
|
PFNA |
6 |
|
PFHxS |
51 |
|
PFHxA |
400,000 |
|
PFBS |
420 |
|
HFPO-DA or GenX |
370 |
1 The criteria are listed in ppt (parts per trillion which is equivalent to nanograms per liter (ng/L)).
This map provides information on treatment works that have tested for PFAS at their permitted discharge points or monitoring points. Use the MiEnviro Portal link listed for each facility to search for PFAS data and PFAS-related records
Publicly Owned Treatment Works are more commonly called Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs), Wastewater Stabilization Lagoons (WWSL) or Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRF). Municipal WWTPs do not use or produce PFAS as part of their treatment process but rather receive it as wastewater discharged into the sanitary sewer system from manufacturing and industrial facilities, commercial operations, infiltration and inflow from contaminated groundwater, and residential households.
Many industries discharge to municipal WWTPs rather than discharge directly to surface waters or groundwater. Municipal WWTPs often regulate their industrial users through an Industrial Pretreatment Program (IPP) required by their NPDES or Groundwater Discharge permit. The IPP provides the basis for WWTPs to regulate industries so industrial pollutants do not interfere with treatment processes or pass through to our lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater. IPPs may require industries to pretreat wastewater or otherwise reduce or eliminate harmful pollutants prior to discharge to the WWTP. The IPP is a federally mandated program and a core part of the federal Clean Water Act. For more information about IPP, visit Michigan.gov/IPP.
Major sources of PFAS come from industries that have used PFAS-containing chemicals (such as chrome platers and paper manufacturers) and industrial users that may have accepted wastes from industries that used PFAS-containing chemicals in their processes and/or products (such as landfills and centralized waste treaters). Although chemical manufacturers in the United States voluntarily stopped making PFOS and PFOA years ago, these persistent chemicals can be found in factories decades after they were used. Sites contaminated by firefighting foams or PFAS-contaminated industrial wastes have also been found to be sources for municipal WWTPs when those sites discharge to the sanitary sewer.
Unfortunately, conventional WWTP treatment does not effectively remove PFAS if it is discharged into the sewer system. Instead, PFAS may be passed through treatment to lakes, rivers, streams, and groundwater, as well as interfere with management of solids from the treatment process referred to as sludge or biosolids, dependent on the disposal method. WWTPs are therefore a critical control point in reducing the discharge of PFAS into the environment. EGLE launched the IPP PFAS Initiative in February 2018.
EGLE developed a Municipal NPDES Permitting Strategy for PFAS. The goal of the strategy is to continue to identify, reduce, and remove PFAS at municipal WWTPs with NPDES permits. EGLE also developed the Compliance Strategy for Addressing PFAS from Public and Private Municipal Groundwater Discharges. The goal of the strategy is to evaluate, prioritize, and reduce or eliminate PFAS at public and private municipal WWTPs with Groundwater Discharge permits to ensure protection of public health and groundwaters used for drinking water.
The information gained by the IPP PFAS Initiative was used to develop the Interim Strategy – Land Application of Biosolids Containing PFAS. The goals of the strategy are to prohibit land application of industrially impacted biosolids; reduce PFAS concentrations in biosolids while meeting Water Quality Values for WWTP effluent through source identification and reduction efforts; mitigate risks moving forward; inform landowners, farmers, and WWTPs about PFAS while empowering landowners and farmers to make informed decisions on biosolids.
Some industrial and commercial facilities can obtain a Groundwater Discharge Permit to discharge process wastewater directly to groundwater. This includes but is not limited to vehicle wash water, laundromat wastewater, carpet cleaning wastewater, non-contact cooling water, food processing wastewater, and hydrostatic test water. To address PFAS in these discharges, EGLE is working to expand the Compliance Strategy for Addressing PFAS in Public and Private Municipal Groundwater Discharges to include industrial discharges. EGLE’s goal in expanding the strategy is to evaluate, prioritize, and reduce or eliminate PFAS at industrial facilities with Groundwater Discharge permits to ensure protection of public health and groundwaters used for drinking water.
Some industrial facilities discharge process wastewater directly to surface waters (or via separate storm sewer systems) and are known as industrial direct discharges. These facilities obtain individual NPDES discharge permits or certificates of coverage under general permits to discharge various types of wastewater. This includes but is not limited to industrial process wastewater, non-contact cooling water, hydrostatic pressure test water, fire suppression system test water, groundwater intrusion, contaminated groundwaters, and industrial stormwater.
Industrial facilities that only discharge stormwater, are called industrial stormwater facilities and obtain certificates of coverage under a general NPDES permit to discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity that meets permit conditions to surface waters of the state.
These wastewaters and stormwaters may contain or become contaminated with PFAS, which is then released to the environment through these discharges as shown in the PFAS From Industrial Direct and Industrial Stormwater Discharges diagram below.
To address PFAS in these discharges, the EGLE Water Resources Division has developed an Industrial Direct Discharger and Industrial Stormwater Compliance Strategy.
The goal of the strategy is to reduce or eliminate regulated PFAS from industrial facilities with existing NPDES discharge permits or certificates of coverage and require those requesting new discharges to comply with applicable PFAS water quality standards. Learn more about the Industrial Direct Discharger and Industrial Stormwater Compliance Strategy and its implementation.
