Environmental Degradation: The Harmful Presence of PFAS in Water Supplies

By Charlie Xiang

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Forever chemicals are in the blood of every American. Most notably, Per- and Polyfluorinated Substances (PFAS) are found everywhere in clothing, food wrappers, and especially in drinking water. While the amount of chemicals in these items is unlikely to cause immediate issues, PFAS has been linked to increased risks for various cancers, decreased immune system effectiveness, and numerous other issues. In addition to their detrimental effects, they take years to flush out of the human body and, in the meantime, gradually accumulate in small doses through ingested food and more significantly, water. This article will not only illustrate the current state of PFAS usage but solutions that policymakers have created and implemented to address this issue.

Not only does PFAS pose a threat to public health, but also towards the environment as well. In many previous studies, such as the Washington State Department of Ecology, it is concluded that the two major contributors to this persisting issue is from wastewater treatment plants and industrial complexes. In the former, wastewater undergoes a rigorous purification process to be released back into our environment and used to supply our drinking water or to irrigate crops, but PFAS is largely unaffected by this process due to its strong chemical bonds. When the EPA conducted a test for toxic chemicals in water systems in 2023, they released results in August pointing out that more than 70 of the 600 public water systems in New Jersey contained higher levels of three different PFAS chemicals than the state-regulated health limit. This trend is not limited to New Jersey. 

Above: A map of PFAS concentration in tap water across the United States from NPR. Their estimates state that PFAS may be present in up to half of U.S. tap water. Image courtesy of NPR.

While current wastewater technologies seem to be falling short to address the rising amount of PFAS in drinking water, the continual output of more chemicals is the greater issue at hand. To acknowledge and combat the widespread usage of PFAS in commercial products, a bill that encompasses a nation-wide ban of its use in several products such as cookware and menstrual products was recently signed into law by the Governor of Minnesota. This ban will eventually extend to all products by 2032, with the exception of those used for public health, and is avidly welcomed as one of the first courses of actions taken to address the damaging presence of forever chemicals.

Another large source of contamination of groundwater is firefighting foam, which has largely been used in military bases and the PFAS in the foam leaches into the groundwater and poisons surrounding communities. In January of 2023, the Pentagon addressed this issue by issuing tighter regulations of the usage of PFAS in firefighting foam, giving until October to provide a safer alternative and October of 2024 to completely phase out the usage of PFAS-containing foams. There are hundreds of existing firefighting foams, and while many do not meet current standards, further research and testing will likely produce several viable alternatives. 

By enacting more bans that prohibit the use of PFAS in both commercial and government products, the continual pollution of forever chemicals into the environment would be drastically decreased. From there, policymakers should consider funding more research towards the development of better technology to degrade PFAS at a larger scale.