Concentrations of “forever chemicals” in drinking water that are much lower than previously believed may pose negative health effects, the Environmental Protection Agency warned in a new advisory issued Wednesday.

The EPA announced the advisory — which drastically lowers the agency’s recommendations on safe limits for drinking water — a day after another federal agency said residents of the Security-Widefield area in El Paso County near Peterson Space Base showed elevated levels of “forever chemicals” in their blood, compared to the national average.

The EPA said its 2016 recommendation of safe maximum lifetime per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) concentrations of 70 parts per trillion is inadequate “in light of newly available science and in accordance with EPA’s responsibility to protect public health.”

Studies suggest that high levels of PFAS — ubiquitous chemicals used in industry that can be found in nonstick cookware, stain-resistant fabrics and carpets and cosmetics — might lead to increased cholesterol levels, decreases in infant birth weights and higher risk of high blood pressure or preeclampsia in pregnant women, as well as increased risk of kidney and testicular cancer.

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“People on the front lines of PFAS contamination have suffered for far too long,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “That’s why EPA is taking aggressive action as part of a whole-of-government approach to prevent these chemicals from entering the environment and to help protect concerned families from this pervasive challenge.”

The new lifetime health advisory level recommendations are 0.004 parts per trillion (ppt) for PFOA and 0.02 ppt for PFOS, the two most prevalent types of PFAS.

An EPA fact sheet described the new health advisory levels as “below the levels at which analytical methods can measure PFOA and PFOS.”

In Colorado, the Fountain-Widefield-Security area is one of the state’s biggest PFAS contamination sites due to the long-term use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam at Peterson Air Force (now Space Force) Base beginning in the 1970s. More than 80,000 people are affected.

Water and soil testing in 2016 by the Air Force revealed PFAS levels of 240,000 parts per trillion in soil samples and more than 88,000 parts per trillion in groundwater at seven locations on the base. The base is now a designated EPA Superfund site.

Other PFAS contamination sites include Buckley Air Force Base in Aurora and the Suncor Refinery in Commerce City.

Manufacturing of firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals ended in the early 2000s, but tens of thousands of gallons still remain stored in fire departments nationwide and can still be used because the federal government has not issued regulations banning its use.

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In February, Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit in Denver District Court against 15 firefighting foam manufacturers and distributors, claiming the companies should pay for investigation, reporting, monitoring and cleanup costs, as well as damages and restitution.

Weiser said while production has stopped, distributors continue to sell the foam, even as they know it poses health hazards associated with its use.

As of 2019, the Air Force has spent more than $357 million at 22 Air Force installations nationwide to clean up contamination, including more than $50 million for the Peterson AFB remediation.

The Colorado General Assembly has passed six measures in the past four sessions to deal with the PFAS issue, led largely by efforts from Colorado Springs lawmakers. In 2019, they passed the first of several laws to ban the use of PFAS in firefighting chemicals and equipment; in 2020 a law created a PFAS cash fund that provided funding for sampling, emergency assistance and infrastructure.

The law imposes a fee of $25 per tank truckload of fuel products manufactured in, transported into, or transported within Colorado.

In 2022, another law outlawed the use of PFAS chemicals in many product categories, including carpets, cookware, cosmetics, and furniture, and gives the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment authority to designate products containing intentionally added PFAS chemicals for prohibitions on production, sale, or distribution. That part of the law went into effect with the governor’s signature.

Under another section of the new law, Class B firefighting foams for use at gasoline, special fuel or jet fuel storage and distribution facilities — one of the primary sources of PFAS contamination — will be strictly regulated to prevent releases of the foam starting in 2024.

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The EPA’s lifetime health advisories identify contaminant levels that the EPA believes will protect “all people, including sensitive populations and life stages” against adverse health effects from lifetime exposure, including from other sources, such as food, air and consumer products.

“Forever chemicals,” such as PFAS, do not readily break down and can accumulate in human and animal tissue and crops over time. In humans, PFOA has a half-life of 3.8 years (1,387 days), according to the EPA.

The EPA also said epidemiological studies of exposure to PFOA and adverse health outcomes in humans are currently inconclusive, and a link to health problems has not yet been confirmed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Research into the health effects of PFAS on humans is ongoing.

The EPA also announced $1 billion in grant funding from the federal Emerging Contaminants in Small or Disadvantaged Communities Grant Program. This is the first of $5 billion that can be used to reduce PFAS in drinking water in communities facing disproportionate impacts nationwide.

EPA’s health advisories are non-enforceable and non-regulatory. Instead, they provide technical information to drinking water system operators — and to federal, state, tribal and local officials — on the health effects, analytical methodologies and treatment technologies associated with drinking-water contamination.

Colorado Politics’ Marianne Goodland contributed to this report.