Seven Habits of Highly Effective PFAS Source-Trackers - Live Webinar

Member fee: $25.00
Non-Member fee: $35.00 

1.2 Contact Hours towards CWEA Certifications: ECI & LAB

Introduction
This presentation will share results of The Water Research Foundation’s (WRF’s) Project #5082: Investigation of Alternative Management Strategies to Prevent PFAS from Entering Drinking Water Supplies and Wastewater.
PFAS are a class of chemicals notorious for their persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. Two well-known PFAS are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorosulfonic acid (PFOS). Based on finished water samples collected for the third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3), 66 water systems serving an estimated six million US residents had PFOA and PFOS above the EPA’s 2016 health advisory level (HAL) of 70 ng/L combined. Twelve systems in Florida had PFAS detections in UCMR3.

More systems will likely have detectable PFOA or PFOS in the upcoming UCMR5 (2023-2025), which will use more precise methods. Any detectable PFOA or PFOS would be above these compounds’ new EPA health advisory levels (HALs): 0.004 ng/L and 0.02 ng/L, respectively. The EPA is planning PFOA & PFOS MCLs as well as HALs for more PFAS. Utilities are bracing for these upcoming developments.
The technologies granular activated carbon, ion exchange, and reverse osmosis are effective for PFAS removal, but expensive. So, more research and policy emphasis are needed on preventing PFAS from entering water in the first place. 

Project Description
The goal of this project was to develop actionable strategies that would lead to effective management of PFAS sources for utilities. This project included surveys about utilities’ experiences in monitoring, tracking, and mitigating PFAS. It filled data gaps about the relative importance of different PFAS sources across wastewater, surface water, and groundwater. This included thorough investigations of two watersheds to calibrate a nationwide PFAS model based on point sources and de facto reuse. The information collected during the study culminated in a guidance document about how utilities can best identify and eliminate PFAS sources. 

Findings 
A key lesson learned from utility case studies include the importance of collaboration among utilities, universities, and state governments when working to find PFAS sources. State databases were mined for statistics on PFAS occurrence and sources in groundwater. Landfills were the most frequent source of PFAS to groundwater in multiple databases. In surface water, the presence of even less than one percent wastewater effluent could cause PFOA to exceed its new HAL. However, it would take over 90% wastewater effluent or a major industrial source to exceed any enforceable state MCLs. The guidance developed through this project recognizes that source identification and mitigation are utilities’ “first line of defense” against PFAS. It provides specific and actionable recommendations to support this approach.

Photo illustration by Kelman Publishing (c) CWEA

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