EPA Sets July 7 Public Hearing on PFAS Rollback — Here's How to Comment by July 20

The public now has a date and a deadline to weigh in on the federal government’s proposed rollback of PFAS drinking-water protections. The EPA will hold a virtual public hearing on July 7, 2026, on the two PFAS rules it proposed on May 18, and it will accept written comments in the public docket through July 20, 2026. Anyone who wants to give verbal comment at the hearing must pre-register by July 1. For the millions of Americans who drink water containing PFAS, this is the formal window to put views on the record before the rules are finalized — the procedural moment that determines whether the rollback advances as written.

The two rules are consequential. One would rescind the federal drinking-water limits for four PFAS — PFHxS, PFNA, GenX (HFPO-DA), and the Hazard Index mixture of those three plus PFBS — leaving them unregulated at the federal level. The other would uphold the PFOA and PFOS limits but push the compliance deadline to 2031, giving water systems two extra years to meet them. We covered the substance of both when they were announced in our report on EPA’s move to rescind four PFAS limits and extend the PFOA/PFOS deadline. This article is the practical companion: what’s happening next and how to participate.

The Two Rules, Briefly

Proposed Rule	What It Does	Effect
PFAS Rescission Rule	Rescinds the MCLs and regulatory determinations for PFHxS, PFNA, GenX, and the Hazard Index mixture	These four PFAS become federally unregulated in drinking water
PFOA/PFOS Compliance Extension	Keeps the 4 ppt limits for PFOA and PFOS but extends compliance to 2031	Water systems get two additional years to install treatment

EPA frames the rescission as a correction of process — it argues the prior administration combined regulatory steps in a way the Safe Drinking Water Act doesn’t permit, denying the public a chance to weigh in on the threshold question of whether to regulate those compounds at all. Critics, including public-health and environmental groups, argue the practical result is simply less protection: four toxic compounds returned to unregulated status and a two-year delay on the two most-studied PFAS. The hearing is where both arguments go on the record.

Key Dates and How to Participate

The procedural calendar is tight, and the deadlines are firm:

July 1, 2026 — Last day to pre-register to provide verbal comment at the hearing. Registration is required to speak.
July 7, 2026 — Virtual public hearing. Members of the public can deliver verbal comments to EPA.
July 20, 2026 — Written comment period closes. Comments must be submitted to the public docket by this date.

Written comments go to the federal docket at regulations.gov under Docket ID EPA-HQ-OW-2025-0654. Questions about the hearing can be directed to EPA at PFASNPDWR@epa.gov. Written comments carry the same legal weight as verbal ones, so residents who can’t attend the July 7 hearing can still make their views count by filing in the docket before July 20.

A few practical notes on effective comments. EPA is required to respond to substantive comments, not to tally votes, so a specific, fact-based comment — your utility’s PFAS detections, the cost or feasibility of treatment in your community, a documented health concern — carries more weight than a form letter. Comments become part of the public record. If you represent a water system, the cost and timeline implications of the 2031 extension are squarely on topic; if you’re a resident, the exposure and health stakes of leaving four PFAS unregulated are equally relevant.

Why This Matters Beyond July

The outcome of these rules will shape PFAS protection for most of the country. If the rescission is finalized, PFHxS, PFNA, GenX, and the Hazard Index mixture will be unregulated federally — meaning in the roughly 40 states without their own PFAS drinking-water limits, no enforceable standard will apply to those compounds. States that have adopted their own rules, like Maine with its 4 ppt limits, are insulated, because state law survives federal rollback. This is the single most important practical takeaway: your protection increasingly depends on your state, not Washington. Our state-level PFAS actions explainer shows where each state stands.

The rollback also lands against a backdrop of expanding exposure data. EPA’s own testing now shows 176 million Americans drink water containing PFAS — four million more than prior estimates — which is the context critics point to in arguing this is the wrong moment to deregulate. The broader direction of federal water policy is covered in our reporting on the PFAS regulation rollback.

What Residents Should Do Now

1. File a comment if you have a stake. The July 20 written deadline is the most accessible way to participate. A specific comment about your community is more effective than a generic one.

2. Don’t wait on the outcome to protect your own water. Regardless of what EPA finalizes, household filtration removes PFAS today. The proven options:

Method	Removal Rate	Best For
Reverse osmosis	90–99%	Drinking and cooking water
Activated carbon (NSF/ANSI 53 + P473)	80–95%	Whole-house or under-sink
Ion exchange	90–99%	Whole-house, including short-chain PFAS

See our best reverse osmosis systems, best under-sink water filters, and best whole-house water filters for certified models.

3. Find out what’s in your water. Check whether your utility has reported PFAS detections, and at what levels. Our PFAS explained guide translates UCMR 5 monitoring data into practical decisions, and our PFAS contaminant profile covers the health background.

4. If you’re on a private well, test it. Private wells are not covered by any of these federal rules. Our PFAS in private wells guide explains testing and treatment.

5. Engage your state legislature. With federal protection narrowing, state PFAS rules are the most direct lever residents have. States can — and several have — set limits stricter than the federal floor.

What Comes Next

After the comment period closes on July 20, EPA will review submissions and respond to substantive comments before issuing final rules — a process that typically takes months. Litigation is widely expected regardless of the outcome; environmental groups have signaled they will challenge a finalized rescission, and water-utility groups have their own concerns about the compliance timeline. The July 7 hearing and the July 20 deadline are the public’s clearest opportunity to influence the rules before they harden into final form and head to court.

How WaterVerge Tracks This

WaterVerge integrates UCMR 5 PFAS monitoring data into city pages, flagging detections against the federal 4 ppt limit and, where stricter, the applicable state limit. As these rules are finalized, we’ll update which thresholds apply where. Search your city to see current PFAS data for your utility and the standard in force where you live.