PFAS

2022 - 7 - 12

Post cover — Image courtesy of "WaterWorld"

Arizona to test public water systems for PFAS (WaterWorld)

In the wake of EPA's new drinking water health advisories for PFAS, the state plans to conduct expanded PFAS sampling for public water systems.

ADEQ is currently working to notify customers of the one remaining small public water system and to assist the system with pursuing treatment options. For the remaining 37 public water systems with PFOA/PFOS detections, ADEQ is contacting the public water systems and discussing EPA’s recommendations that they take steps to inform customers, undertake additional sampling to assess the level, scope, and source of contamination, and examine steps to limit exposure. To assist Arizona’s public water systems, ADEQ is preparing comprehensive guidance and tools that we will distribute to public water systems in July 2022 to provide information and resources for PFAS sampling, and treatment and funding options.

New EPA guidelines on PFAS “forever chemicals” put Frisco far over ... (The Colorado Sun)

Drinking water in Frisco is tainted with dangerous levels of the PFAS “forever chemicals” from suspected firefighting foam runoff, under new EPA guidance ...

The state and many local governments’ current priority is fixing drinking water supplies, not necessarily pinpointing the sources of contamination. The same advocates and many academic researchers say PFAS studies are evolving so quickly that no one has yet established truly safe levels of ingestion that are backed by science. Dilution in the face of PFAS contamination is a common temporary solution around the country, environmental advocates said. Colorado has state grant programs offering to buy up local firefighting foam still containing the chemicals and replace it with more benign materials. Frisco’s warning to the 3,000 town residents called the taint “a concern, not a crisis,” and said people do not have to stop drinking local water. State officials have expressed frustration with that slower timeline, but also said they are not standing still while the EPA sorts it out. The Forever Problem: “Forever chemicals,” also known as PFAS, are an increasing toxic burden on Colorado and the United States, and The Colorado Sun is committed to coverage of public health threats posed by the ubiquitous consumer chemicals. Now, however, the PFOA readings in Frisco are 1,125 times the new PFOA guidance. Many of the most tainted areas containing PFAS variations around Colorado are attributed to firefighting foam containing the retardant chemicals that ran off from firefighting stations, training centers and airports with major firefighting operations, especially U.S. military bases. Boiling and freezing does not alter the level of PFAS. Frisco has four fresh water sources: a surface water treatment plant using North Ten Mile Creek water, and three wells. Some in-home water treatment filters are also designed to take out PFAS, but some of the basic refrigerator or tap-attached filters do not have any effect.

North Carolina Develops Action Strategy for PFAS Regulation (Womble Bond Dickinson)

We discussed new federal efforts to measure and reduce PFAS contamination levels in drinking water - but there also are significant efforts to increase PFAS ...

The second stage of the Action Strategy calls for NCDEQ to modify environmental permits with enforceable limits of PFAS discharges. The Action Strategy calls for a nuanced approach of enforceable standards and incentives for voluntary action to achieve its regulatory goals. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) has announced a new initiative to address PFAS issues in the state. During this same time frame, NCDEQ plans to propose Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for PFAS chemicals in drinking water. NCDEQ already is testing public drinking water systems and private wells, and is prioritizing reporting of PFAS emissions into the air, surface water and groundwater. This research will help inform future PFAS regulation in North Carolina.

New PFAS Remediation Technology Comes to U.S. (waste360)

A PFAS remediation technology with Australian origins, proven to remove more than 99% of long-chain, and most short-chain PFAS compounds from water and soil ...

“Where the market is going is toward onsite destruction technologies, and we plan to couple SAFF with some of these evolving technologies once they are prime for market. “We are hearing significant interest from federal agencies [particularly the Department of Defense], large industrial companies, and landfill owners. Figuring out how to address short-chain PFAS compounds has been a newer accomplishment. Allonnia is beginning to vet several of these new destruction technologies as potential next steps after SAFF, such as electro-oxidation, super critical water oxidation, and cold plasma. Every million gallons of treated groundwater yields one gallon of hyper concentrated PFAS foam that will require treatment, according to EPOC and Astorga. SAFF just concentrates in the foam and can be destroyed easily,” Astorga says. SAFF separates PFAS from water or soil and concentrates it without the use of chemicals or adsorption media that leave behind residue. And the modular design component enables us to scale up or down at each site,” he says. So, we were looking for technologies to achieve this, and we came across SAFF.” Actual operating cost depends on local utility fees per kilowatt of power, but on average is $0.25 per 1,000 gallons treated. Now that more remediators are aware of the heavy lifting capability of our technology in removing PFAS, our collective goal is to continue to be a part of the conversation within remediation circles, and to take the conversation from awareness to inquiry, to our process … As the North American distributors of the EPOC SAFF, we will work closely with Allonnia to achieve this goal.” PFAS attaches to the bubbles, which foamat the top of the column, and are collected and concentrated.

PFAS can still be incinerated in Illinois - Illinois Newsroom (Illinois Newsroom)

Listen to this story here. PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are shorthand for a family of over 5,000 toxic chemicals manufactured to be highly ...

Last August, Governor Pritzker originally vetoed a bill that would ban the incineration of PFAS on the basis that the definition of “incineration” was too broad. It’s a type of incineration used at the Veolia facility in Sauget. And it’s not the only definition in the legislation that has advocates like JD Dixon raising their eyebrows. I mean, that brought the alarm to the people in the community,” said Dixon. “And that’s what brought them out.” She adds that this pervasive quality of PFAS calls into question any benefit of incinerating PFAS in the first place. Sonya Lunder is a Toxics Policy Advisor with the Sierra Club. She says it’s the durable quality in the chemical structure of PFAS substances that complicates their disposal. We’’re very concerned that even in the high temperature of a waste incinerator, they are not broken down.”

Ariz. to test public water systems for PFAS (WaterWorld)