The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday that the U.S. Virgin Islands is slated to receive $9.4 million in grant funding as part of a billion-dollar effort to curb per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances and other drinking water contaminants in the territory.
“Everyone in the U.S. Virgin Islands deserves confidence that the water coming from their tap is safe,” said Michael Martucci, EPA Region 2 administrator Michael Martucci in a press release. “This funding gives U.S. Virgin Island communities more tools to test for PFAS and other emerging contaminants, plan for long-term solutions and make the infrastructure upgrades needed to protect public health.”
Harold Mark, DPNR’s program manager for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund grant, told the Source Tuesday that the award is the territory’s third allotment of funds under the federal Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities grant program. The funds are awarded to small community or nonprofit water systems to test for PFAS — sometimes referred to as “forever chemicals” because of how long it may take for them to break down naturally — and curb their presence in public water systems. The chemicals have been linked to numerous adverse health effects, including cancer.
Tuesday’s funding announcement came a day after the EPA announced a “comprehensive, lifecycle-based strategy” to PFAS in a move that some environmentalists have described as a rollback of restrictions and limits implemented by the Biden administration in 2024. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said in a statement released Monday that the new plan calls for “rules grounded in gold-standard science and the Safe Drinking Water Act, support for water systems on the front lines, and action to stop PFAS pollution at the source before it ever reaches a tap.”
“The Biden administration cut corners and failed to follow the law,” he stated. “We are fixing that error with standards water systems can actually implement and that will hold up to scrutiny, while addressing PFOA and PFOS, two of the best-studied PFAS with well-documented health impacts.”
