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New PFAS Strategy Focuses on Treatment and Destruction Technologies
The initiative will support real-world testing of emerging cleanup methods and research funding to help communities address PFAS contamination.
Communities facing local PFAS challenges are the intended beneficiaries of funding, technical assistance and practical tools under a new EPA strategy, the agency said. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin unveiled the PFAS Technology, Evaluation, Coordination, and Harmonization (PFAS TECH) strategy Oct. 26 at a Commerce City, Colorado, event. EPA described it as the first such strategy to span the entire agency.
Under the strategy, collaboration among EPA, states, local leaders, federal partners and the private sector is a priority, the agency said. Its first of three goals is to speed up new technologies for treating and destroying PFAS through funding, new partnerships and support for early-stage innovation. That goal includes working with states, universities, local businesses, water systems and federal partners to test foam fractionation, supercritical water oxidation and other newer treatment approaches.
A second goal calls for pilot-scale projects at drinking water systems, wastewater treatment plants, military facilities and Superfund sites. EPA said those projects will test how methods perform in real settings, reduce technical risk and help communities see which approaches to PFAS cleanup are practical and can be scaled.
A third goal is to turn progress into practical steps. Those steps are easy-to-use guidance, the rollout of the Break the Bond Navigator, updated information about technologies and help for water systems in obtaining technical assistance and funding.
Beyond partnerships, the agency said it intends to award grants for research on destroying PFAS. Programs that will offer that funding include the Science to Achieve Results grant program and the Small Business Innovation Research grant program. More information, including how to get involved, is on the PFAS TECH Strategy webpage.
