The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, or ADEQ, says it’s working with communities outside Globe and the town of Star Valley on projects to address PFAS in drinking water. Those are the human-made chemicals linked to cancer and other health issues.
PFAS don’t break down naturally, and they raise health concerns when they seep into groundwater. Matthew Olsen, associate project manager with ADEQ, says the agency is working with small water utilities outside Star Valley and Globe, where the chemicals have been found.
“These could be small mobile home parks, smaller communities that just hadn’t been connected to municipal systems yet, or they could be located on a county island,” he said.
Olsen says the state agency plans to work with other small utilities where PFAS have been found using a $5 million PFAS mitigation fund created by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office. The project connects small communities to larger water utilities, eliminating the need to build new infrastructure to remove PFAS from water.
“We found projects and opportunities where instead of doing very expensive treatment to mitigate PFAS, we’re able to do interconnections where we connect smaller public water systems to larger public water systems,” he said.
ADEQ data from 2025 shows 82 small water utility systems around the state had PFAS levels that were higher than the federally enforceable limit set by the EPA under the Biden administration.
The agency established limits for six of the most pervasive types of PFAS in drinking water and set up a federal fund to help communities address contamination. Olsen says ADEQ is using that funding alongside the money earmarked by the governor’s office.
Last year, the Trump administration’s EPA dropped four out of the six PFAS compounds originally listed in 2024. Only PFOA and PFOS will remain regulated for now. The agency says the other four will be re-evaluated and could be relisted later on.
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