Last week, Governor Murphy and six other Governors sent a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) demanding that the agency include microplastics in the next Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR) issued pursuant to the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). If the EPA grants the petition, it would develop a monitoring program for microplastics in drinking water across the country – and jumpstart the process toward future regulation.

The EPA had anticipated releasing the proposed UCMR last month, with a final rule scheduled for December 2026. It has yet to issue the proposed rule. 

Last week’s announcement comes after nearly a year of advocacy by Food & Water Watch members, who met with governors’ staff and sent over 8,000 messages in support of microplastics monitoring. Last year, Food & Water Watch also filed a legal petition to the EPA, signed by 175 groups across the country, urging the Agency to monitor microplastics under the Safe Drinking Water Act rule.

The governors have petitioned the EPA for the inclusion of microplastics on the monitoring list under a provision of the SDWA. This provision requires the EPA to include a contaminant on the list if it receives a petition from seven governors, unless the agency determines that the inclusion would preclude the monitoring of a contaminant of more pressing public health concern. 

“This is a momentous step towards gathering critical information we need about the emerging crisis of microplastics in drinking water,” said Wenonah Hauter, executive director of Food & Water Watch. “We thank Governor Murphy for his leadership on this petition and all the governors that have joined him in this vital effort. We now call on the EPA to grant this petition and get to work. People have a right to know about microplastic contamination in their drinking water.”

Microplastics are widespread in our environment – especially in our drinking water – and pose a major threat to our health, including being associated with an increased risk of certain cancers. They are currently unregulated and unmonitored at the federal level. 

“It’s critically important that we persist in our collective efforts to insist that elected officials stand up and speak out for public health and, in this case, to protect us from dangers from microplastics,” said Paula Rogovin, Co-Chair of the Food & Water North Jersey Volunteer Team. “We applaud Governor Murphy for listening to our call and leading on getting support from other governors.”

Delaware Governor Matt Meyer, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Maryland Governor Wes Moore, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont were the other signers of the petition.