Bill seeks to help eliminate contaminants in Virginia drinking water

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — A bill seeking to help eliminate contaminants in residents’ water, as well as provide water testing and treatment for individuals on private wells and small public water systems, was presented to the State Water Commission.

On Monday, June 24 , the State Water Commission met to discuss a bill that would set regulations on drinking water treatment and establish a fund to test and treat contaminated water for those using private wells and small rural public water systems.

House bill 1295 , introduced by Republican Delegate Ellen Campbell, seeks to direct the State Board of Health to adopt regulations to use point-of-use or point-of-entry drinking water treatment or filtration to remove or significantly reduce contaminants in drinking water.

“This is important not only for my district in Shenandoah Valley, but for the entire Commonwealth,” Campbell said in a statement read during the Commission’s meeting. “I believe that wherever we look, we will find contaminates in our water systems, which is a major issue that needs to be rectified.”

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), current peer-reviewed studies on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as forever chemicals, have shown exposure to certain levels of PFAS can cause health effects, including an increased risk of some cancers, decreased fertility and developmental effects in children.

In testing conducted by the Virginia Department of Health , the department found 26 water system entry points out of 274 to have PFAS above the screening level.

In April, the EPA announced regulations for six PFAS , which requires public water systems to monitor the listed PFAS. Public water systems must complete initial monitoring by 2027, followed by ongoing compliance monitoring. Water systems must also provide the public with information on the levels of PFAS in their drinking water beginning in 2027.

Richard Mest, president of Master Water Conditioning Corporation, said in the past, public water systems were regulated by the federal government and private well owners were on their own to treat contaminants.

Mest said the bill will put a marker down for the state that says the state will help constituents that are currently underserved by programs, such as private well owners and small rural public water systems.

“You cannot blame a resident of Virginia who chose to live in the country and drill a well, you cannot blame them for drilling that well near a contamination,” Mest said. “They didn’t drill their well beside a waste site, they didn’t drill their well beside an industry. PFAS found every well in the state.”

According to Mest, there are about 1.6 million residents in Virginia that get their drinking water from a well, which equates to about 613,000 households. In rural Virginia, there are 2,659 public water systems that serve less than 3,300 people.

The bill asks for $5 million in funding each year to help people living in rural areas on small public water systems and on private wells to identify through water analysis if a contaminant exists and utilize point-of-use and point-of-entry technology to treat it.

Point-of-use is similar to filtering water through a pitcher filter, such as a Brita filter, where the water is being treated at the point where it will have the most impact.

Point-of-entry is similar to putting water treatment into a home and every ounce of water will be treated through the piping.

“Some contaminants in water allow you to do maybe something on your faucet, maybe something in a pitcher, maybe something underneath the sink,” Mest said. “Other contaminants require you to treat [the] whole house.”

Several questions about the bill were posed during the session, including what the impact would be on farms.

In February, the bill was continued to 2025 “due to lack of funding for legislation.” A report by the Virginia Department of Health on the potential cost of managing PFAS contamination is set to be reviewed on Dec. 1 of this year.

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