Las Vegas-based researchers are finding so-called “forever chemicals” in water sources across the West and illicit drugs, like meth, in snow, leading scientists to sound the alarm about what the compounds could mean for our health and the environment.
Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances, known colloquially as PFAS, are a group of chemicals found in manufactured products.
“We’re not going to be able to get rid of it. It’s there. It’s floating around in the water,” said Dr. Doug Sims, dean of the College of Southern Nevada’s School of Science, Engineering and Mathematics.
Beginning in the 1940s, humans put PFAS into the environment with items like non-stick pots and pans and certain plastics. 3M, which makes some products with PFAS, agreed last week to pay more than $10 billion over the next decade to water suppliers that have detected the chemicals.
Sims’ and his students, plus other CSN researchers and teams across the West, gathered samples from rivers and other water sources in 11 states. The research included the Las Vegas Wash, the 12-mile-long channel that moves treated wastewater out of the Las Vegas Valley and into Lake Mead.
“We found all types of drugs that people use,” Sims said about the research.
In May 2022, KTLA sister station KLAS reported how Sims and CSN students took part in a global study to investigate the effects of pharmaceuticals on the world’s waterways. As part of the project, the team took samples up and down the wash.
Sims’ research found 28 compounds in the wash, including antidepressants, opioids and medications to treat acid reflux, allergies, coughs, diabetes, high blood pressure, muscle spasms, nerve pain and shingles.
Researchers also homed in on changes in the detection of certain compounds during last year’s NFL Draft and that year’s Electric Daisy Carnival.
During EDC and in the days after, wastewater in Las Vegas contained a notable spike in MDMA, also known as ecstasy or Molly. The amount of MDMA flowing through the Las Vegas Wash on the Monday after EDC 2022 was 300 times its level recorded before the festival began, Sims’ research found.
During the 2022 NFL Draft, Sims noted an influx of anti-depressants and medications to mitigate high blood pressure and cholesterol. The uptick in those chemical compounds is statistically significant compared to the other weekly-compiled data, Sims said.
The EPA is in the process of creating a nationwide standard for PFAS in drinking water. The amount detected in some water systems is in parts per trillion. Scientists do not yet know how PFAS gets in the water table or how it affects the human body, the agency said.
The CSN research found some PFAS in remote areas nearly untouched by humans, leading them to believe the forever chemicals traveled through the precipitation cycle.
“Why is it important to know if these chemicals are in these water sources?” Charns asked Andrea Seifert, the chief at Nevada’s Bureau of Safe Drinking Water.
“It’s important to know about PFAS in our environment in Nevada so we can address any concerns and protect the public,” Seifert said.
State researchers have monitored PFAS in Nevada for a decade, Seifert said, ramping up with the passage of a bill in 2021, which established a working group for their study. With the chemicals in everything from waterproof clothing to firefighting foam, Seifert said the state is doing its own research and awaiting the EPA’s guidance.
“We want to know what those levels are, what needs to be done to protect the public and to inform them so they can make decisions about the water that they’re drinking,” she said.
“At what point does the number really say, ‘This is a problem?’” Charns asked Sims.
“The drugs have the potential to be bio-magnified through the system ultimately entering the food web that we depend on,” Sims said. The magnification will only worsen in drought, if the Colorado River continues to dwindle, he said.
“The amount of water in the Colorado today, despite the current year, is drastically down compared to five, six years ago, so the concentration is going up in the Colorado because of climate change impact on the environment,” Sims said about the inorganic compounds.
A changing environment with synthetic chemicals CSN researchers are discovering in some of the least-suspecting of places.
“We’re finding PFAS and methamphetamines and other drugs actually in the snow, transported on the winds,” Sims said about upcoming research regarding Mt. Charleston.
Nevada received about $20 million from President Joe Biden’s infrastructure law to protect drinking water sources specifically from PFAS.
“We must be proactive to ensure that all Nevadans have access to clean, safe drinking water, free from contaminants like PFAS and other harmful chemicals,” Democratic Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen said at the time of the announcement. “This funding, which I helped secure through the bipartisan infrastructure law, will go toward protecting our state’s public water systems and the health and wellbeing of our communities.”
The Nevada Legislature passed a bill this legislative session meant to regulate PFAS, but Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo vetoed it, citing the EPA’s upcoming regulations.
“While protecting consumers from potential dangers associated with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances is an important goal, [Senate Bill 76] aims to accomplish too much too soon,” the governor wrote in his veto message. “Awaiting the EPA’s determinations will avoid unnecessary burdens for doing business in Nevada, specifically.”
The EPA was expected to release its PFAS guidelines later this year. The Southern Nevada Water Authority was awaiting those guidelines, as well.
“While PFAS compounds are a recent topic in the public dialog, the Southern Nevada Water Authority has been monitoring and researching these potential contaminants for more than a decade,” spokesperson Bronson Mack said. “Based on analyses from SNWA’s research and development laboratory, southern Nevada’s water supply is expected to meet the EPA’s proposed regulations for PFAS. We will continue to sample, test and monitor PFAS to protect our community’s tap water.”