August 12, 2026

There Shouldn’t be Microplastics in Our Drinking Water

My testimony on one of EPA’s drinking water monitoring programs

By Nancy Stoner, Senior Attorney

This week, I delivered testimony on EPA’s proposed Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR6), a critical drinking water monitoring program. This rule is an important public health tool. Before EPA can regulate contaminants in drinking water, it first needs to know what is actually showing up in our taps and where.

This rule would require water systems across the country to test for thirty contaminants that are not yet subject to federal drinking water standards, helping EPA gather the data needed to better understand risks and develop future protections. We support many parts of the proposal, including expanded monitoring for additional PFAS chemicals, pesticides, solvents, and other contaminants that may threaten human health. More monitoring means more information, and better information is the foundation of better public health protections.

But EPA missed a key opportunity by removing microplastics from the list of contaminants that water systems would be required to monitor. Put simply, if we do not look for a contaminant, we cannot know how widespread it is, where people are being exposed, how much risk that exposure presents to public health, or what actions are needed to reduce that  risk. A growing body of research has linked microplastics to serious health concerns, including an increased risk of heart attack, stroke, and death, and scientists have already found them throughout the environment and in drinking water sources. Americans deserve to know whether microplastics are in the water they drink.

My testimony urges EPA to restore microplastics to the monitoring program and to strengthen its approach to PFAS by using a more comprehensive, science-based definition so that potentially harmful chemicals do not slip through regulatory gaps. The public has a right to know what is in the drinking water, and EPA should collect the information necessary to protect people from emerging contaminants before problems become even more widespread.

READ MY TESTIMONY

Nancy Stoner,

Senior Attorney

Nancy Stoner is a Senior Attorney with ELPC focused on clean water issues.

MORE FROM Nancy Stoner