63% of Floridians are willing to pay higher water bills to clean up ‘forever chemicals’

A supermajority of Floridians view toxic, so-called “forever chemicals” in waters across the state as a serious public health problem and are willing to help fund cleanup efforts, new polling shows.

Nearly two-thirds of informed respondents — 63.4% — said they’d be open to paying slightly higher water bills to help remove per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from their drinking water supply.

But there remains a general lack of awareness of PFAS chemicals. Only 8% of Floridians surveyed said they were “very familiar” with PFAS before taking the poll, while 42% said they had never heard of the chemicals. Of those who had, fewer than 15% learned about them from government sources; most became aware through news media.

After being informed of the dangers of PFAS, 55% said they viewed the chemicals as a “major problem,” and another 34% said it was a “minor problem.”

Fifty-four percent said they believe that there aren’t sufficient safeguards in place to manage, monitor and regulate PFAs water contamination in Florida.

Respondents’ understanding of PFAS-related health risks was also low. When asked to identify medical conditions associated with PFAS exposure, more than a quarter of participants selected “none of the above.” Another 10% said they believed the chemicals aren’t tied to any illnesses.

The poll, published Tuesday, was conducted by Drugwatch, a for-profit website operated by Orlando-based law firm Wilson & Peterson LLP, which publishes consumer information on defective drugs, medical devices and other harmful products.

Researchers surveyed 1,000 Florida residents 18 to 64, the site said.

PFAS — used for decades in nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, firefighting foams and other consumer and industrial products — are nearly indestructible compounds that accumulate in soil, water and the human body, hence the “forever” descriptor.

Scientific research has linked exposure to them with kidney and testicular cancer, thyroid disease, developmental issues, reduced vaccine response and high cholesterol. Because the chemicals don’t break down naturally, they can persist in groundwater and ecosystems for generations.

A 2024 University of Florida study detected PFAS in 63% of spring-vent samples across 67 counties, confirming that the state’s vast freshwater network — which supplies 90% of its drinking water — is widely contaminated.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a federal limit of 4 parts per trillion for two of the most studied PFAS compounds, PFOA and PFOS, but hundreds of Florida water systems exceed those levels.

Take Miami-Dade County, for instance. Data from the Environmental Working Group shows PFOA levels there at 14 parts per trillion and PFOS at 43 parts per trillion. The county’s own water quality report from last year found those levels to be lower but still exceeding the proposed federal limit: 6 parts per trillion for PFOA and 24 parts per trillion for PFOS in Miami-Dade’s main system, and 11 parts per trillion for PFOA and 35 parts per trillion for PFOS in the South Dade water supply.

In Tallahassee, the Environmental Working Group found PFOA levels at 8.5 parts per trillion and PFOS at 9.5 parts per trillion.

Several cities in the area were in line to receive millions in settlement payouts from chemical manufacturers, including 3M and DuPont. Fort Lauderdale is to receive close to $35 million, while Boca Raton is to get $32 million.

Delray Beach, where water testing found PFAS levels in some places more than 7 times the safe threshold, is to receive $15 million.

Miami-Dade moved to sue chemical makers in July 2020 and enjoined a proposed class-action settlement in late 2023.

In January, a Stuart man with stage 4 cancer sued Martin County Utilities and 3M after a blood test found PFAS levels 11,000 times higher than the EPA threshold.

Stuart previously sued the chemical company as part of a class action complaint that yielded a $10.3 billion settlement in 2023, to be paid out over 13 years. One of the attorneys representing more than 4,000 plaintiffs in the case was Robert Bilott, who brought forth the first PFAS case in 1999. Actor Mark Ruffalo portrayed Bilott in the 2019 feature film “Dark Waters,” and the work Bilott’s team did was also depicted in the 2018 documentary, “The Devil We Know.”

Also in 2023, three other companies, DuPont and subsidiaries Chemours Co. and Corteva Inc., reached a $1.18 billion agreement to resolve complaints about 300 drinking water providers.

There has been some state action on the issue. In 2022, the lawmakers enacted legislation to require the Department of Environmental Protection to set new rules for target cleanup levels of PFAS. Around the same time, Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection announced it would earmark $1 billion in federal infrastructure law funds to reduce PFAS and other drinking water contaminants.

To date, Florida has not yet adopted enforceable PFAS maximum contaminant levels. Public water systems are to complete monitoring for PFAS by the end of 2027. By April 2029, they must meet the EPA threshold.