Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Services
Westwater brings over 25 years of environmental consulting experience to the assessment and hazardous waste cleanup of this emerging class of contaminants. PFAS sampling and analysis can be complex due to required part-per-trillion (ppt) detection limits and PFAS compounds present in many common field investigation materials. According to many PFAS sampling guidance documents, care must be exercised in the field to prevent sample cross-contamination by items such as sampling pumps with Teflon™ parts or hoses, Gore-Tex™ clothing, waterproof field logbooks, and even Post-it™ notes.
What are PFAS?
PFAS are a class of up to 5,000 synthetic compounds manufactured since the 1940s and present in many consumer and industrial products. Many compounds in this emerging class of contaminants are highly water-soluble, mobile, and long-lived in the environment. Toxicological studies have linked PFAS compounds to cancer and other health disorders. With no enforceable national regulations a state-by-state regulatory patchwork has developed with some states setting drinking water standards as low as the parts-per-trillion (ppt) range. Despite a 70-year manufacturing history and widespread use our understanding of PFAS toxicology, environmental fate and transport, sampling and analysis methods, and treatment are still very immature.
Please see Mr. Horn’s publications and presentations list for recent PFAS-related presentations. If you’d like to learn more about this fast-changing topic please contact Westwater to discuss the specific issues you face. Presentations are available on request.
For PFAS-related projects, Westwater offers the following advantages:
Westwater brings over 25 years of defensible field sampling and analytical experience, with a broad range of constituents, to PFAS-related projects.- A recognized field investigation expert, Westwater’s Principal Hydrologist, Andy Horn, PG, recently participated in the National Groundwater Association’s PFAS Best Suggested Practices Task Group for which he coauthored Section 5, Field Sampling and Analyses.
- Sampling and analysis can be performed from screening-level assessment to the most stringent field sampling and laboratory analytical protocols ensuring the appropriate level of rigor for your project’s data quality objectives.
- Westwater has existing relationships with drilling and field sampling equipment vendors providing “PFAS-free” certifications for their products.
Westwater brings over 25 years of defensible field sampling and analytical experience, with a broad range of constituents, to PFAS-related projects.- Westwater can provide a turn-key project team of seasoned environmental scientists and engineers, experienced in PFAS projects, providing services including: geochemical and geostatistical evaluation, groundwater and contaminant fate and transport modeling, laboratory data validation, and water treatment. Experts from many other disciplines can be incorporated into your project team as needed.
- Laboratory analysis can include isotope dilution at no additional charge; samples are spiked with known amounts of the same compounds analyzed, but that are isotopically labeled, to evaluate matrix interferences and validate laboratory performance.
- Laboratory results can be validated by a third party up to Level IV analytical data quality control standards and according to Department of Defense standards.
- Westwater can draw on a variety of analytical laboratories to provide the most cost-effective analytical services and meet DoD or state analytical certification requirements.
