U.S. EPA Regulation

  Yes No
Does perchlorate cause an adverse effect on human health?  
Does perchlorate create a public health concern due to the frequency and level of presence in drinking water systems?  
Does regulating perchlorate provide a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction?  

Since 2008, three different Presidential Administrations have determined perchlorate does not warrant federal regulation because it does not meet the criteria required under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

Specifically, in order for the EPA to decide to regulate any compound under the SDWA, it has to satisfy three statutory requirements.

  1. The contaminant may have an adverse effect on the health of persons;
  2. It must be present in drinking water systems at a frequency and level of public health concern; and
  3. Regulation presents a meaningful opportunity for health risk reduction.

With these statutory requirements as a backdrop, here’s what’s been done on perchlorate so far:

  • In 2008 US EPA under the George W. Bush Administration first determined that perchlorate did not meet the SDWA requirements and said it would not move forward with a regulatory process.
  • In early 2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a controversial Regulatory Determination on Perchlorate, concluding that perchlorate should be regulated under the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). EPA did not, however, submit any new science or in any way demonstrate that perchlorate meets any of the statutory criteria in making this determination.
  • In June 2020, US EPA under the Trump Administration again found that perchlorate failed to meet any of the SDWA criteria for federal regulation and discontinued the regulatory process started in 2011.
  • In early 2022, US EPA under the Biden Administration upheld the 2020 action, agreeing for a third time that perchlorate did not meet the criteria for regulation.

Now, in 2025, EPA is again moving forward with a regulatory process on perchlorate… not because of any new science or health effects, but because of a 2-1 Federal Court Decision in 2023. That decision declared that because EPA had determined to set a Federal standard for perchlorate back in 2011, it was now required to do so, regardless of whether or not it was justified by the science or in any public health interest.

As a result, US EPA is required to deliver a proposed standard by November 2025, and a final standard by 2027.