West Virginia

West Virginia is the origin state of the modern PFAS crisis. For decades the DuPont Washington Works plant in Parkersburg discharged PFOA, trade name C8, into the Ohio River and surrounding groundwater, contaminating drinking water for tens of thousands of residents in Parkersburg, Lubeck, Vienna, and across the river in Ohio. The C8 Health Project, funded by a DuPont settlement, enrolled over 69,000 residents and produced the epidemiological evidence linking PFOA to kidney cancer, testicular cancer, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

In 2024 the West Virginia legislature passed HB 3189, the Public Health Protection Act, which directed the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt state MCLs for six PFAS compounds. State records show the resulting rule broadly aligns with the federal EPA MCLs finalized in April 2024.

Litigation has been extensive. DuPont and its successor Chemours have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in settlements and judgments to West Virginia residents, medical monitoring recipients, and downstream utilities. Public water systems in West Virginia are subject to both the state MCLs and the federal compliance timeline requiring initial monitoring by 2027 and treatment installation by 2029.