EPA proposes federal exemption framework extending PFOA/PFOS MCL compliance deadline from April 26, 2029 to April 26, 2031

EPA issued a proposed rule to create a federal exemption framework that would allow qualifying public water systems to request additional time to comply with PFOA and PFOS maximum contaminant level (MCL) requirements, extending the compliance deadline from April 26, 2029 to April 26, 2031 for systems that submit a request. Compliance teams supporting water utilities should monitor the proposal because it changes expected implementation timelines and may create new administrative steps/criteria for seeking extensions. EPA indicated a 60-day written comment period after Federal Register publication and scheduled a virtual public hearing for July 7, 2026 (speaker pre-registration deadline July 1, 2026; docket EPA-HQ-OW-2025-1742).