PFOA and PFOS Information

PFOA and PFOS, also known as per- and polyfluoroalky substances, have been in the in the news recently. A new film, "Dark Waters" tells a story of water contamination related to PFOA used to produce products containing Teflon, specifically a type of PFOA called C8. PFAS are a large group of chemicals that are found worldwide in numerous consumer products such as carpets, clothing, furniture fabric, food packaging, nonstick cookware and firefighting foams.

Coachella Valley Water District understands that we are trusted with the public’s health when it comes to drinking water and we take that responsibility very seriously. We understand and agree that water contamination, such as what that portrayed in Dark Waters, is extremely concerning and something we should all be committed to protecting against. 

The contamination in the movie is related to an industry that does not operate and has never operated in the Coachella Valley. Further, the PFAS chemicals from DuPont depicted in the movie were at found at levels thousands of times higher than California’s PFAS Notification Levels, which currently are the most stringent in the nation. The potential human health impacts related to PFAS from all sources are still being studied, and more research is needed. We are part of an industry group that is helping to fund research on PFOS and PFOA.  

CVWD is actively testing our water system for PFOS and PFOA and, at this time, have not had any detections. CVWD provides superior water quality that surpasses the standards in the Safe Drinking Water Act. We encourage customers to review our annual water quality report. 

CVWD will continue to engage with experts on this issue. We are committed to providing safe drinking water.

More information on PFAS is available from the American Water Works Association and the Association of California Water Agencies:

PFOA and PFOS Fact Sheet

AWWA Briefing on PFAS