Per- and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances are recognized as potentially significant contaminants of water supplies and pose major challenges to drinking water safety. The dimensionality of the challenges is particularly troubling. First, these compounds were designed to be extremely stable, so they do not readily degrade in the environment, cannot be easily destroyed in treatment processes, and persist indefinitely. Although the toxicology of PFAS is not yet fully explored, sufficient information exists to indicate a variety of health threats from exposure. Detectable body burdens of many PFAS can be found throughout essentially all living humans. Routes of exposure include discharges of PFAS products and by-products in aerial and aqueous waste streams by manufacturers and users, leaching from PFAS-containing products, and bioaccumulation. Removal of PFAS from the environment (“cleanup”) is impractical, so point-of-use remediation remains the only practical remedy. The two principle methods to remove PFAS from drinking water, reverse osmosis and activated charcoal adsorption, do not destroy PFAS, requiring additional steps to reduce the potential long-term threat posed by these compounds.

Water sustainability: The challenge of PFAS

ACS Spring 2022

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