By Jack Morgan
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water has awarded a $75m contract to ICF to provide environmental, economic, regulatory and evaluation services to the agency’s critical water programmes.
The partnership aims to help reduce pollutants in US waters, improve the quality of drinking water, and decrease exposure to toxic substances and emerging contaminants.
Consultancy ICF has supported EPA’s water regulations since 2018 and helped to develop the first-ever nationwide, legally enforceable drinking water standards to protect communities from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), often referred to as forever chemicals. The EPA issued the final rule for these standards in April.
Under the contract, ICF will evaluate the environmental and health impacts of the EPA’s regulations and associated costs and benefits.
Jennifer Welham, senior vice president of health, people and human services at the consultancy, says: “The EPA is facing an increasingly complex set of challenges related to water regulation and quality, from addressing emerging contaminants like PFAS to improving water infrastructure and mitigating the effects of climate change.”
Welham adds: “Beyond PFAS, the EPA is grappling with a growing list of emerging contaminants in ambient water and in drinking water. Identifying and regulating these contaminants presents several challenges, such as the broad range of them and treatment cost.”
To identify and regulate these contaminants, Welham says: “ICF will continue to apply a range of research and analysis methods – ranging from literature review and data analyses to complex system modelling – to assess the environmental effects of pollutants and estimate the benefits and costs of regulatory or policy measures to address water pollution.”
ICF’s modelling simulates the environmental effects of pollutants and evaluates different regulatory scenarios. This includes estimating the costs and effectiveness of measures that facilities implement in response to the regulations, as well as economic impacts and direct and indirect benefits.
Welham says: “The cost-benefit and other analyses supported by ICF allow EPA policy makers and stakeholders to evaluate the possible regulatory options and ensure that the regulation achieves its objectives.”
The contract is a blanket purchase agreement (BPA) valued at up to $75m and will last for five years, consisting of a one-year base period and four optional one-year extensions.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION: https://environment-analyst.com/global/110668/us-epa-icf-partnership-targets-emerging-water-contaminants
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