Expert Insights On PFAS Treatment

31. Two Water Movies: The Harmful And The Hopeful 3/8/2023

    Adam Tank and I just had Travis Loop as a guest on our podcast Water We Talking About, and he gave us an update on his initiative to do in-depth reporting on the PFAS issue. And our next guest is Aoife Kelleher, associate producer and lead researcher for the water documentary Brave Blue World. So I thought it would be a good time to repost my review on two very different water movies, Dark Waters and Brave Blue World.

32. Developing PFAS Regulations Provide Cause To Take Action Against Polluters Now 2/9/2023

    On October 18, 2021, the U.S. EPA released its PFAS Strategic Roadmap which sets timelines to take specific actions for regulating 29 man-made perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). Many state regulatory agencies already request or require water systems to test for an expanded list of these chemicals. Most states that require testing are requiring it at and near airports and military sites where aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) containing various PFAS compounds was likely used, for potentially decades, to extinguish fires — and to conduct training exercises where large volumes of the foam were often discharged onto the soil.

33. Tackling The PFAS Crisis In 2023 1/24/2023

    2022 may be heralded as the year that PFAS took center stage in the effort to provide safe drinking water access for all. Some states began enacting laws targeting the “forever chemicals,” and the U.S. EPA took major steps to designate two of the most widely used PFAS as hazardous substances under CERCLA. However, concerns that the progress may not be enough to adequately combat PFAS have only intensified.

34. 3M Announced It Will Stop Making PFAS. What Does This Mean For Water Providers? 12/28/2022

    Earlier this week 3M announced that it will stop making PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances), a group of thousands of chemicals it has produced for decades, by 2025. 3M’s announcement begs the questions of why the company is taking this action now, and what does it mean for water providers across the country. While there may not be one simple answer to the first question, it seems that 3M’s past actions have finally caught up to the company and that the legal efforts to expose the harms of PFAS, dating back to the first case in 1999, as laid out in the movie Dark Waters, have led to significant change.

35. Judge Denies 3M's Attempts To Invoke The Government Contractor Defense In AFFF Multi-District Litigation 10/12/2022

    The government contractor defense is a doctrine of federal common law that recognizes, under some circumstances, contractors should be shielded from liability when they build equipment for the government. On September 15, 2022, Judge Richard Mark Gergel of the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina denied 3M’s attempt to use this defense to evade liability for harm caused by “forever chemicals” it manufactured — per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — that were contained in aqueous film forming foams (AFFF).

36. How To Destroy A 'Forever Chemical' — Scientists Are Discovering Ways To Eliminate PFAS 8/26/2022

    PFAS chemicals seemed like a good idea at first. As Teflon, they made pots easier to clean starting in the 1940s. They made jackets waterproof and carpets stain-resistant. Food wrappers, firefighting foam, even makeup seemed better with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. Then tests started detecting PFAS in people’s blood.

37. U.S. PFAS Analytical Instrumentation Market Expected To Generate Profound Growth Over Next 7 Years 8/5/2022

    The current slope of the U.S. PFAS analytical instrumentation market advancement is steep due to U.S. EPA plans to propose water and wastewater regulations for PFAS. Additionally, some of the key drivers include an increased awareness about the widespread prevalence of PFAS contamination, public outrage, funding, and litigation scares.

38. General Considerations For Treating Water For Difficult Pollutants 7/6/2022

    As a matter of course, we normally consider removing various pollutants by direct means such as microbial degradation, chemical treatment that results in a change in the pollutant in some way that is to our benefit (usually oxidation/reduction), or in some manner that results in products easily removed such as gases, various precipitants, or even degraded compounds that are no longer toxic. Some methods are entirely physical, such as centrifugation and filtration, even settling; others are semi-hybrid measures, such as exploitation of various adsorption criteria that do not require chemical change.

39. PFAS Contamination At Airports Is A Rising Concern 6/24/2022

    When aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF, was introduced 50 years ago, its effectiveness at firefighting made it popular with emergency personnel at airports and military bases. Chemical compounds called perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) found in AFFF repelled both oil and water and smothered the flames quickly. AFFF created a foam blanket that put out fires and provided additional protection by suppressing fuel vapors and preventing reignition. Its use quickly spread, not just to put out fires but in equipment testing, training exercises, and during fuel spills as a preventative measure.

40. Taking The "Forever" Out Of PFAS: The Future Of PFAS Remediation 5/5/2022

    As PFAS treatment technologies continue to emerge, CDM Smith reviews some considerations for the existing options — and introduces a new one.