On February 27, California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) announced the adoption of a revised public health goal for perchlorate in drinking water of 1 part per billion (ppb). The new goal replaces the previous 6 ppb public health goal and sets the stage for further analysis of the California regulatory limit for perchlorate in drinking water.
The revised California health goal is premised upon additional analyses of the potential health impacts of perchlorate on infants. However, some commenters have been critical of the new analyses, claiming that OEHHA did not sufficiently consider the full range of available literature and past evaluations pertaining to perchlorate health effects and was overly conservative in its selection of key modeling parameters. Additional information on the revised health goal, including the revised technical support document and responses to public comments, is available at OEHHA’s website.