The statutory and regulatory framework.
Federal statutes, the law of each state and territory, and the international regime governing PFAS at sea, with the compliance obligations, effective dates, and liability each imposes on holders of PFAS. Reference information, not legal advice.
Federal (United States)
Drinking water
In April 2024 EPA set the first enforceable PFAS drinking-water limits. PFOA and PFOS at 4 ppt; PFHxS, PFNA, and GenX at 10 ppt; plus a Hazard Index for mixtures. A May 2026 proposal would keep PFOA/PFOS but extend compliance to 2031 and rescind the rest, proposed, not final. See the regulations primer. EPA ↗
CERCLA and cleanup liability
In 2024 EPA designated PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA (the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act). That makes disposal liability strict, retroactive, and joint-and-several: the party that generated or "arranged" for PFAS waste can be made to pay for cleanup years, even decades, later. PFAS releases are reportable. This is the legal teeth behind "never discharge it." The nationwide AFFF litigation (MDL 2873) is the polluter-pays principle in action. EPA ↗
Product and defense provisions
The FDA reports PFAS grease-proofing agents are no longer sold for U.S. food packaging (2024). The Department of Defense, under NDAA FY2020, stopped buying fluorinated AFFF (Oct 2023) and using it at installations (Oct 2024, with waivers to Oct 2026), though Navy ships are exempt. FDA ↗ GAO ↗
Governing federal statutes
- Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The basis for EPA's enforceable drinking-water limits.
- CERCLA (Superfund). Hazardous-substance designation and cleanup liability for PFOA and PFOS.
- Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Chemical reporting and review, including the PFAS reporting rule.
- Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Hazardous-waste management, with EPA moving to list certain PFAS.
- EPCRA. Community right-to-know and Toxics Release Inventory reporting for PFAS.
- Clean Water Act (CWA). Discharge permits and the bar on releasing PFAS to water without one.
- NDAA. The defense authorization acts behind the military AFFF phase-out and the fluorine-free spec.
States & territories
The governing firefighting-foam statute and operative deadline in each state, the District of Columbia, and the territories. Select a jurisdiction for the full profile: permitted uses, disposal requirements, and program status. State tracker ↗
"None" means no enacted state foam ban, but federal rules (CERCLA, the EPA drinking-water limits) still apply everywhere, and federally-required uses at Part 139 airports and military bases follow federal law.
Laws of the sea
Flag-state jurisdiction and the compliance date
A ship is regulated principally by the country whose flag it flies. When a government ratifies an IMO convention it writes it into national law; the IMO itself has no enforcement power. The flag state, often through a classification society (DNV, Lloyd's Register, ABS) acting on its behalf, surveys the ship and issues its certificatesunder SOLAS and MARPOL. IMO ↗
A ship doesn't retrofit the moment a rule takes force, it complies at its first survey on or after the effective date, on its own certificate cycle. The IMO's PFOS prohibition (Resolution MSC.532(107), new SOLAS II-2 Reg. 10.11.2) took force January 1, 2026: ships built on or after that date can't carry PFOS foam at all, and existing ships must comply by their first survey on or after January 1, 2026 (Reg. 1/2.10), which is why the fleet phases in across 2026–27, not on one day. Foam removed from a ship "shall be delivered to appropriate shore-based reception facilities." IMO MSC.532(107) ↗ DNV ↗
And your flag isn't the last word: Port State Control lets a port or coastal state inspect, and detain, a foreign ship in its waters regardless of flag, through nine regional agreements (Paris MOU, Tokyo MOU…) plus the U.S. Coast Guard. The three largest registries, Liberia, Panama, and the Marshall Islands, are bound by the SOLAS amendment the same as anyone. IMO PSC ↗
The prohibition on discharge
Discharging spent firefighting foam to the water is illegal under independent, overlapping regimes:
- MARPOL Annex V (garbage) generally prohibits discharging operational waste to the sea, spent foam concentrate is on none of the narrow exceptions. IMO ↗
- London Convention 1972 / Protocol 1996 bar ocean dumping, the Protocol's "reverse list" prohibits dumping anything not specifically allowed, and chemical waste like AFFF isn't on it. IMO ↗
- In harbor and coastal waters, national law applies, in the U.S. the Clean Water Act bars discharging pollutants without a permit, PFAS is treated as a pollutant, and a release of ≥1 lb of PFOA/PFOS must be reported to the National Response Center. EPA NPDES ↗
Not overboard at sea. Not in harbor. Not at the dock. The foam has to come off the ship and go to a documented destruction path, exactly the dockside gap. Multi-state guidance says it flatly: no flushing, draining, or discharging foam to any ditch, waterway, storm drain, or sewer. ITRC ↗