The sustainable path to PFAS removal from wastewater
The sharp rise in new regulations surrounding the use, disposal, and permitted levels of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) has far-reaching implications for organisations across a wide range of industries and water utilities. But it’s a particular challenge for those who treat water and wastewater as part of their operations.
The strong carbon-fluorine bonds that characterise PFAS make them incredibly persistent in water, the environment, and even our bodies. These so-called “forever chemicals” have been named as such for a very good reason. If we don’t intervene and remove them, they will remain present in our water forever.
That creates a major challenge for water utilities and industries dealing with PFAS-containing (waste) water.
Preventative actions, such as switching to substitute chemicals, are the best solution, as they stop new PFAS entering our water. But substitution takes time, and there is a lot of legacy pollution that must be removed too. So, water technology has a critical role to play in overcoming the PFAS problem.
Managing the global cost of local PFAS removal
One of the biggest barriers that’s preventing organisations from removing PFAS from (waste) water is that the removal technologies available today are extremely energy intensive.
As such, removal efforts create significant emissions, leading experts to question whether the local benefit of removing PFAS from water is worth the global emissions impact.
That's a philosophical question with no objectively correct answer. But it highlights a major problem. If we want to remove PFAS from (waste) water, we must clearly understand their sources, develop innovative mechanisms of removing them efficiently and, whether it’s a new or existing technology, apply them where their cost-effectiveness is highest.
This combination of high initial investment and energy costs means that for many, PFAS removal carries a prohibitively high financial cost too. Currently, it’s difficult to find a financially sustainable way of reaching the permitted levels that organisations want to achieve.
But the greatest cost of all is the cost of inaction.
As regulations tighten, the problem is only going to grow. So it’s essential that we address the elephant in the room and start finding innovative ways to tackle this complex challenge today.
The keys to efficient, cost-effective PFAS removal are collaboration…
- Problem owners (typically water utilities and industries)
- Technology suppliers
- Water technology experts
- Environmental compliance experts
- Research institutes
- Regulatory agencies
Haskoning has decades of water technology and compliance experience, and strong relationships with government stakeholders, applied researchers, and technology industry leaders, built through complex collaborative projects.
In addition to our own technologies and compliance consulting expertise, we bring together all of the parties required to overcome the challenges of PFAS removal, closing the gap between problem owners and their PFAS removal goals.
…and immediate action
PFAS aren’t going to go away without intervention. The first step toward achieving compliance is to speak up and start addressing the issue head on today with the help of an expert partner like Haskoning.
It’s going to take a combination of new technology development, applied research, and contextual expertise to combine proven and original solutions to deliver the best results. And to deliver those solutions before regulations intensify even further, that effort must begin now.
Haskoning is ready to engage with this challenge. It’s a long-term effort, but conditions demand that it starts now. If you’re one of the numerous organisations that understands the growing need for PFAS removal, but you’re unsure where to start, or find yourself restricted by cost implications, talk to us.
We are actively seeking opportunities to partner with organisations like yours so that we can get ahead of this growing problem, and create solutions to it, rather than simply waiting for them to appear.
If you’d like to discuss your needs and challenges around PFAS removal, or you’d like to learn more about this collaborative partnership opportunity, get in touch today.
PFAS Flyer
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