EPA proposes listing microplastics and antidepressants as water contaminants

Trump administration officials outlined a plan Thursday to list microplastics and certain pharmaceuticals as contaminants in drinking water, a step toward new regulations that fulfill a goal of the Make America Healthy Again movement.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin, alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., announced a proposal to add microplastics and pharmaceuticals, such as antidepressants, as priority contaminants in the EPA’s drinking waters draft of the Sixth Contaminant Candidate List.

The CCL is a list of contaminants that are known or anticipated in public water systems. It does not subject the contaminants to any regulations, but it could be used to set rules down the line.  

“For too long, Americans have vocalized concerns about plastics and pharmaceuticals in their drinking water,” Zeldin said in a press release. ”That ends today.”

The agency is including two other contaminant groups in the CCL: per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or “forever chemicals” because they don’t break down