PROVIDENCE — Last February, a top official with the Rhode Island Department of Health assured lawmakers that the state was on the verge of coming up with regulations on so-called “forever chemicals” found in firefighting foam, cookware and food packaging that have contaminated drinking water supplies across the nation.
A drinking water standard for compounds in the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, or PFAS, family would be presented to Gov. Gina Raimondo’s office in March and be ready for the public to see by May, associate director of health Seema Dixit told the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee at a hearing on Feb. 6, 2020.