US environmental regulators must now take two steps to set water quality rules

US environmental regulators are taking back rules for four types of forever chemicals. This means public water systems will not have to monitor or treat water for these chemicals, at least for now.

Public water systems were about to face new costs to test and clean water for four specific forever chemicals. Now they do not have to. The US environmental regulators say they made a procedural error when they first set the rules. This means the agency cannot set regulatory determinations and final rules at the same time. This changes how the EPA must approach all future regulations under the Safe Drinking Water Act.