EPA’s PFAS plan cites one test above 99.99% destruction

EPA’s new two-year PFAS technology agenda combines planned research with projects and assistance already underway. The strategy reports more than 99.99% PFAS destruction in one industrial test, but that result belongs to the test—not to the agenda as a whole. PFAS TECH is not a new drinking-water rule or federal limit.

EPA announced the strategy on Oct. 26, 2026, at an event in Commerce City, Colorado. Administrator Lee Zeldin launched what EPA calls its first agency-wide PFAS Technology, Evaluation, Coordination, and Harmonization strategy. The agency says it will advance actions across its national program and regional offices over the next two years.

What the reported results measure i

The strategy says an industrial-scale supercritical water oxidation system achieved greater than 99.99% PFAS destruction efficiency while treating aqueous film-forming firefighting foam. That percentage describes a particular test; it does not measure how much PFAS the new agency agenda has removed or whether community exposure has fallen.

The strategy also reports that previous pilot projects at Willow Grove Naval Air Station treated tens of millions of gallons. It says a PFAS groundwater extraction and treatment system is being constructed there. These figures describe different things: the industrial test’s percentage is a destruction-efficiency measure, while the Willow Grove figure is a volume of water treated in prior pilots. Neither is a measure of results across PFAS TECH.

Assistance includes work already underway i

EPA says Region 8 had already provided funding for Commerce City to construct an anion-exchange facility at a drinking-water treatment plant. The strategy describes funding already provided, not a new award made with the PFAS TECH announcement.

EPA says technical assistance is being provided to eight Region 4 communities—seven in North Carolina and one in Georgia—and was provided to two cities in Tennessee. The strategy also identifies small and rural water systems as potential users of assistance and infrastructure funding, without naming all future recipients.

EPA describes partnerships with about 40 drinking-water utilities through its broader RECESS program on emerging contaminants, including PFAS. That figure is not a count of new PFAS TECH pilot projects. The agenda also includes intended research funding through programs such as Science to Achieve Results and Small Business Innovation Research, as well as a planned PFAS Break the Bond Navigator to help state and local officials identify treatment and destruction technologies. The Navigator’s content and supporting documentation remain under development.

The strategy gives no overall PFAS TECH budget or detailed schedule for all future projects and assistance recipients. Colorado Public Radio reported that Zeldin said funding would come from EPA’s budget but did not specify an amount. CPR also reported that Doa questioned whether the research emphasis would reduce current risks and said it could distract from stronger drinking-water limits.