Across the State of Michigan, different agencies rely on a wide range of PFAS-related values - spanning enforceable standards, water quality criteria, cleanup levels, air screening values, biosolids thresholds, and public‑health screening tools - but most people tend to refer to all of them simply as “standards,” “criteria,” or “regulations.”

In practice, these values serve very different purposes, are created under different authorities, and carry different levels of legal weight. Some protect environmental media like drinking water, surface water, soil, or air; others focus on human exposure through fish consumption or health-based screening.

Since the terminology can be technical, it’s completely understandable that the public and many stakeholders use these terms interchangeably - even though Michigan uses a mix of regulatory limits, science-based criteria, and health advisory tools to protect both people and the environment.