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"Forever Chemicals" Now Turn Up in Water Serving 197 Million Americans. Here's What the New Count Means in Sacramento.

The biggest round of tap water testing in U.S. history is wrapping up, and the latest tally landed last week: PFAS, the so-called "forever chemicals," have now been detected in water systems serving an estimated 197 million people. That is 23 million more than earlier testing had identified. For...

Family First Water November 10, 2026

"Forever Chemicals" Now Turn Up in Water Serving 197 Million Americans. Here's What the New Count Means in Sacramento.

The biggest round of tap water testing in U.S. history is wrapping up, and the latest tally landed last week: PFAS, the so-called "forever chemicals," have now been detected in water systems serving an estimated 197 million people. That is 23 million more than earlier testing had identified. For Northern California homeowners, the more useful question is what the number actually means, and the answer runs through a set of groundwater wells in Sacramento.

What the new count does and doesn't say

The figure comes from an Environmental Working Group analysis of EPA and state testing data, reported by WRAL on November 6. It counts water systems where PFAS were detected at all, not only systems over a federal limit. That distinction matters. "Detected" means modern lab equipment found the compound, which today can measure down to a few parts per trillion. Many of the 197 million people are served by systems with low-level detections that would pass every current standard.

Still, the direction of the trend is clear: the more utilities test, the more PFAS they find. EWG's chief science officer David Andrews described it as "contamination caused by an industry that profited off these chemicals," pointing at decades of use in firefighting foam, nonstick coatings, stain-resistant fabrics and food packaging.

The rules are shifting at the same time. In 2024 the EPA set the nation's first enforceable limits for six PFAS. The current administration has said it will keep the 4 parts-per-trillion limits for the two best-known compounds, PFOA and PFOS, while dropping the standards for four others, and it has proposed moving the compliance deadline for utilities from 2029 to 2031.

California's share of the problem

EWG's California analysis, built on State Water Board data and the EPA's testing program, found 177 California water systems serving more than 18.9 million people that recorded PFOA or PFOS above 4 parts per trillion, or PFHxS or PFNA above 10, between 2023 and 2025. Of those, 130 systems had annual averages above the limits. The state also counts 49 active and former military sites where PFAS has been found in groundwater or drinking water. Sacramento appears on EWG's list of systems that detected PFAS compounds beyond PFOA and PFOS above the federal standards.

The Sacramento wells

Sacramento is a useful case study because the city sits on both a river supply and a groundwater supply. Historically about 20 percent of the city's water has come from wells, according to Utilities Director Dalia Fadl, with the rest drawn from the Sacramento and American rivers.

CapRadio reported in August that the city's 2022 lawsuit against PFAS manufacturers identified eleven city wells with PFAS contamination. One of them, Well 139, was tested 23 times between 2019 and 2021, and every sample came back at two to four times the federal limit that takes effect in 2031. The city says those wells were taken offline by 2024, and it secured a $10.4 million settlement in 2023 that it is using to find, study and drill replacement wells with treatment built in. The city's 2025 water quality report did not list PFAS at all, which Fadl said means none were detected in that year's testing.

The likely source is familiar across the region: firefighting foam used for decades at the former Mather Air Force Base, at civilian airports and at fire stations. Mather has since begun treating the groundwater beneath it. Neighboring systems have dealt with the same plume. CapRadio reported in 2024 that the Sacramento County Water Agency stopped operating 15 of its 70 wells after detecting PFAS, and that California American Water has run a granular activated carbon system on a Rancho Cordova well since 2017.

How to check your own water

The simplest first step is EWG's Tap Water Database, where you enter a zip code and see every contaminant your utility reported, including PFAS, with the levels found. Your utility's annual Consumer Confidence Report, usually posted online each spring, lists the same results in the utility's own words. If PFAS is absent from the report, it generally means the compound was not detected in that year's samples; if it is listed, the report will show the level and the limit side by side.

At home, PFAS is a dissolved contaminant, so it passes straight through a basic sediment filter. Reverse osmosis is the technology designed to address dissolved contaminants like PFAS, nitrates and lead at the kitchen tap, and the researchers quoted in both the WRAL and CapRadio stories point to activated carbon and reverse osmosis as the home options that reduce exposure. Whole-home carbon filtration handles the chlorine and chloramine that leave hair dry and skin itchy, while the softener side addresses the hardness common throughout the Sacramento region. Whatever you choose, the experts' advice is the same: pick a filter certified for PFAS reduction and change it on schedule.

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