Presumptive Contamination: A New Approach to PFAS Contamination Based on Likely Sources

Abstract

While research and regulatory attention to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has increased exponentially in recent years, data are uneven and incomplete about the scale, scope, and severity of PFAS releases and resulting contamination in the United States. This paper argues that in the absence of high-quality testing data, PFAS contamination can be presumed around three types of facilities: (1) fluorinated aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) discharge sites, (2) certain industrial facilities, and (3) sites related to PFAS-containing waste. While data are incomplete on all three types of presumptive PFAS contamination sites, we integrate available geocoded, nationwide data sets into a single map of presumptive contamination sites in the United States, identifying 57,412 sites of presumptive PFAS contamination: 49,145 industrial facilities, 4,255 wastewater treatment plants, 3,493 current or former military sites, and 519 major airports. This conceptual approach allows governments, industries, and communities to rapidly and systematically identify potential exposure sources.

Sources, Fate, and Detection of Dust-Associated Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): A Review

“…Particularly in Saudi Arabia and the Arabian Gulf Region, there is a lack of scientific evidence to support the extent to which PFAS are released and transported from the paved or unpaved ground surface, where they have accumulated, to stormwater or another location. Consequently, it is essential to understand the industries, facilities, and products that significantly release PFAS into the environment, so we can better identify the appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures against PFAS exposure [36].…”

Improved Total Oxidizable Precursor Assay for Quantifying Polyfluorinated Compounds Amenable to Oxidative Conversion to Perfluoroalkyl Carboxylic Acids

“…Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of anthropogenic compounds that are frequently present at concentrations of concern in municipal wastewater effluent, , landfill leachate, – drinking water, – and groundwater downstream of sites where aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) were used. – More than 12,000 identified PFASs exist, of which over 1400 are widely used for consumer and industrial applications. – Despite evidence of detrimental effects on human health – and ecosystems, quantifying PFASs is limited by the lack of authentic standards and difficulties associated with their chromatographic detection. The total oxidizable precursor (TOP) assay provides a means of estimating the concentration of a substantial fraction of unknown PFASs in samples, especially in locations where various AFFFs have been used .…”

Polyfluoroalkyl substances requiring a renewed focus on groundwater‐surface water interactions

“…b. There are thousands of individual PFAS compounds, a wide range of materials that contain PFASs, and a very large number of potential sites (e.g., Salvatore et al 2022 report a presumptive estimate of more than 57,000 PFAS-impacted sites in the USA alone). c. Very low regulatory standards have been established and/ or are proposed in many jurisdictions (typically low parts per trillion [ppt], or nanograms per liter [ng/L]).…”

“…Key factors driving this attention and focus are: There is documented widespread presence of PFASs in human blood serum (Olsen et al 2017) and the environment (Bolan et al 2021; Kurwadkar et al 2022). There are thousands of individual PFAS compounds, a wide range of materials that contain PFASs, and a very large number of potential sites (e.g., Salvatore et al 2022 report a presumptive estimate of more than 57,000 PFAS‐impacted sites in the USA alone). Very low regulatory standards have been established and/or are proposed in many jurisdictions (typically low parts per trillion [ppt], or nanograms per liter [ng/L]). Recently, USEPA issued lifetime drinking water health advisory levels (HALs) of 4 and 20 picograms per liter, or parts per quadrillion (ppq), for PFOA and PFOS. The behavior of PFASs in the environment is very complex; for example, most PFAS compounds are resistant to biological degradation processes (e.g., Liou et al 2010), sorb to sediment (e.g., Schaefer et al 2021) and microplastics (e.g., Pramanik et al 2020; Cheng et al 2021; Scott et al 2021), exhibit self‐assembly behavior (e.g., Dong et al 2021), partition into non‐aqueous phase liquid (NAPL) (e.g., Liao et al 2022), and concentrate at air‐water interfaces (e.g., Li et al 2020; Brusseau and Guo 2022).…”