This is a historic moment, friend.

Today the Environmental Protection Agency finalized unprecedented new limits to tackle drinking water contamination from six of the notorious “forever chemicals” known as PFAS – PFOA, PFOS, GenX, PFBS, PFNA and PFHxS.

The limits, known as maximum contaminant levels, or MCLs, are the highest level of contaminant allowed in drinking water. The new MCL requires water treatment plants to lower the amount of these chemicals to much safer levels than currently exist in water systems.

These are just six of the forever chemicals known as PFAS, a large family of toxic fluorinated chemicals that build up in the body and don’t break down in the environment. Even at low levels, they have been linked to cancer, reproductive harm, immune system damage and other serious health problems.

Americans have been drinking contaminated water for decades, but today’s historic action will finally get these toxic chemicals out of our water.

Read more about the EPA’s announcement here.