Rep. Kim Schofield: Georgia Cannot Afford to Ignore the Threat of Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Our Water

By State Representative Kim Schofield (D-Atlanta)

(963 words)

Twenty locations tested. Twenty locations contaminated with PFAS. Four sites along the Chattahoochee River. Eleven different PFAS compounds detected. And one deeply troubling reality: the Chattahoochee River supplies drinking water to approximately 70% of metro Atlanta.

How many more warnings must Georgia receive before we take this public-health threat seriously? The October 20 findings reported by WSB-TV, based on research from Environment Georgia Research & Policy Center, should alarm every Georgian, regardless of political affiliation, ZIP code or economic status.

These findings do not establish that every household's tap water is unsafe. But they confirm something that I have repeatedly warned my colleagues in the Georgia General Assembly about: toxic forever chemicals are present in our environment, and we cannot afford to wait until the consequences become irreversible.

For years, I have introduced legislation, requested action and urged the Georgia General Assembly to confront the dangers of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS. I have asked. I have advocated. And, yes, I have practically begged for meaningful legislative consideration.

In 2023, I introduced a legislative package that included House Bill 803, the Safer States Act, along with House Bills 257, 258 and 390, addressing harmful chemicals in consumer products, menstrual product safety, ingredient transparency and safer alternatives.

I have since worked on broader PFAS accountability proposals calling for environmental monitoring, industrial disclosure, stronger protections for drinking water and agricultural land, remediation and responsibility for contamination. These efforts were not about creating unnecessary regulations. They were about preventing avoidable harm.

Today, the evidence reinforces why this legislation matters. PFAS have been associated with increased risks of certain cancers, reproductive and developmental problems, immune system effects and other serious health concerns. Some of these chemicals persist in our environment for generations.

As a legislator serving on the House Health Committee, I understand that environmental health is public health. Contaminated water does not respect county lines, legislative districts, political parties or economic status.

And while everyone deserves protection, families living in communities already facing health disparities and limited access to medical care may have fewer resources to respond to environmental threats.

Georgia is experiencing extraordinary growth in data centers, fueled by artificial intelligence, cloud computing and the demand for digital infrastructure. I recognize their economic importance. But economic development cannot come at the expense of safe drinking water or public health.

Research is increasingly identifying connections between PFAS and certain data-center technologies. The Environmental and Energy Study Institute reported in April 2026 that PFAS are used in some server-cooling systems, fire-suppression applications and semiconductor manufacturing supply chains.

The University of Georgia has also identified PFAS among the potential chemical contaminants in data-center cooling wastewater. To be clear, the recent Chattahoochee testing does not establish that data centers caused the detected contamination. Direct releases from data centers remain difficult to quantify, and cooling systems vary substantially.

But the evidence is more than sufficient to demand greater transparency, independent monitoring and serious oversight. We need to know which chemicals are being used, how wastewater is managed, whether PFAS are present in discharges and who will be responsible if contamination occurs.

Georgia should not discover the environmental cost of its technological expansion after communities have already been exposed. This is not Georgia's first encounter with PFAS contamination.

A 2026 investigation by the Associated Press and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution detailed how Georgia officials had information about PFAS pollution associated with northwest Georgia's carpet industry years before meaningful state intervention. That history should remind us of the cost of delay.

When scientific warnings are met with years of uncertainty, communities can be left carrying the health, financial and environmental burdens. We must stop allowing the cost of prevention to be debated while the cost of contamination is passed to taxpayers, families and future generations.

As we approach the 2027 legislative session, I am calling for a serious, bipartisan commitment to confronting PFAS contamination.

That commitment must include: statewide testing of waterways, drinking-water sources, agricultural soil and biosolids; public access to testing results; stronger industrial disclosure and discharge safeguards; and increased resources for communities facing confirmed contamination.

We must also establish clear environmental transparency requirements for data centers and other industrial facilities, including disclosure of PFAS-containing chemicals, baseline water testing and appropriate wastewater monitoring. Finally, Georgia needs a meaningful remediation and accountability framework that identifies responsible polluters and protects taxpayers from bearing the full costs of cleanup.

These are practical steps toward preventing future contamination while supporting responsible economic development. I welcome collaboration with business leaders, environmental scientists, water utilities, universities, public-health advocates and legislative colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

Protecting our water should never be a partisan issue. Water is not a political luxury; it is a human necessity. As a state, we speak proudly about economic growth, innovation and Georgia being a great place to do business.

But what does that progress mean if families cannot have confidence in the safety of the water they drink? What does economic prosperity mean if communities inherit contaminated rivers, mounting cleanup costs and preventable health risks?

And what will we tell the next generation when they ask what we did after the warnings became impossible to ignore? We cannot claim to be building a healthier, stronger Georgia while treating the protection of our water as an afterthought.

I have raised this issue before. I will continue raising it. And I am asking my colleagues in the Georgia General Assembly to give these legislative protections the consideration they deserve.

The question is no longer whether forever chemicals deserve our attention. The question is whether we have the collective will to confront the problem before it grows worse.

Twenty testing sites. Twenty detections. Enough warnings. Georgia, it is time to protect our water, protect our health and protect our future.

Representative Kim Schofield represents the citizens of District 63, which includes a portion of Fulton County. She was first elected to the House of Representatives in 2017 and currently serves as Secretary of the Urban Affairs Committee. She also serves on the Creative Arts & Entertainment, Health, Industry and Labor and Small Business Development committees.

The views expressed above and information shared are those of the author.

###