PFAS Investigations at the Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center

On this page:

• Virginia and West Virginia PFAS Investigations
  • Capabilities
  • Completed and ongoing PFAS investigations
  • Where have we collected PFAS data?
• Background
  • What are PFAS?
  • PFAS in the environment
  • Human exposure to PFAS
  • How does USGS measure PFAS in the environment?
• USGS PFAS strategic vision
• References

Virginia and West Virginia PFAS Investigations

Capabilities

Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center PFAS investigations span research on the distribution and magnitude of PFAS contamination in surface water, groundwater, streambed sediments, and in the edible tissues of fish. Several large-scale studies have also evaluated PFAS in both public and private drinking-water sources. Monitoring the occurrence of PFAS is important because of its long history of use in the United States and the unknown distribution of environmental releases over space and time. 

These projects are done in cooperation with partners including the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, the Virginia Department of Health, and the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources.

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Completed and ongoing PFAS investigations

Where have we collected PFAS data?

The PFAS data availability map shows locations where PFAS have been measured by the Virginia and West Virginia Water Science Center, as well as how to access those data. Click on the image below to open the application.

Background

What are PFAS?

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PFAS are a diverse class of manmade fluorine-containing compounds that includes thousands of individual chemicals. PFAS have characteristics such as heat, stain, grease, and water resistance that have driven their use in a variety of industries and consumer products globally since the 1940s. Many PFAS are also both highly water soluble (and thus highly mobile in the environment) and resistant to biodegradation.

These characteristics, combined with over 80 years of use, have resulted in the widespread occurrence of PFAS in aquatic and terrestrial environments, drinking water, and wildlife. In humans, too – PFAS are estimated to be present in the blood of almost all United States residents.^[1] The increasing scientific and public awareness of this widespread distribution of PFAS has raised many public-health and resource-management issues that USGS science can help inform.

PFAS in the environment

PFAS can enter the environment from several sources, including PFAS manufacturing plants, industries using PFAS, landfills that receive PFAS-containing consumer products and food waste, wastewater treatment facilities, septic systems, and at airports and military fire-training areas where PFAS-containing foams have been used. 

PFAS have been detected in a variety of environmental mediums, including soil, precipitation, surface water, and groundwater. Once in the environment, they can affect aquatic and terrestrial organisms and groundwater and surface waters used as sources of drinking water. Some PFAS have the potential to bioaccumulate in animal tissues following continual exposure to contaminated water, sediment, food, or soil.^[2] The potential ecological effects of this PFAS contamination are a subject of continued research. Conventional drinking-water treatment methods remain largely ineffective at removing PFAS and PFAS precursors from surface and groundwater sources prior to human consumption. 

Human exposure to PFAS

Consumption of contaminated drinking water and food, inhalation of indoor air and dust, and consumer products are the primary ways most people are exposed to PFAS.^[3] Exposure can also occur in occupations like chemical manufacturing and processing or in occupations where PFAS-containing foams are used, such as firefighting. Additional work that considers lifestyle, regional location, and other factors is needed to fully understand the complex factors contributing to human exposure.  

In humans, some PFAS have been linked to negative health effects, including increased risk of some cancers, low birth weights, disruption of the immune system, and thyroid disease.^[4][5] Additional health effects are difficult to determine. There are thousands of PFAS with potentially varying effects and most studies focus on a limited number of known PFAS compounds.

How does USGS measure PFAS in the environment?

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Widespread occurrence of PFAS in the environment can create challenging conditions for PFAS sampling and analysis. Potential sources of PFAS contamination while sampling include sampling equipment, items used in or around the sampling environment, fluids used for decontamination, personal-protective equipment, personal-care products used by field crews, and materials that may already be in the sampling environment. Modifications to the standard USGS sampling protocol include replacing fluoropolymer sampling equipment with PFAS-free materials, additional equipment cleaning steps, and scrutiny of cross-contamination pathways through field activities. 

Analysis of PFAS is conducted at laboratories that use the most accurate analytical methods. A combination of equipment blanks, field blanks, and laboratory-method blanks are used to identify and quantify potential sources of contamination. Data review and validation takes all steps of sample collection and analysis into account to ensure PFAS results meet the high data-quality standards established by the USGS.

USGS PFAS strategic vision

The USGS has a history of interdisciplinary PFAS research that has informed the creation of a strategic vision document outlining the agency’s future scientific role in the study of PFAS. This strategy was created to advise both short term (1-2 years, using existing resources) and longer-term (3 years and beyond) steps forward for the USGS related to the science of PFAS, with the needs of public health experts and ecological resource managers in mind.

References

¹ Calafat, A.M., Wong, L.Y., Kuklenyik, Z., Reidy, J.A., and Needham, L.L., 2007, Polyfluoroalkyl chemicals in the U.S. population—Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003–2004 and comparisons with NHANES 1999–2000: Environmental Health Perspectives, v. 115, no. 11, p. 1596–1602, accessed November 3, 2021, at https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.10598.

² Song, X., Vestergren, R., Shi, Y., and Cai, Y., 2020, A matrixcorrection approach to estimate the bioaccumulation potential of emerging PFASs: Environmental Science & Technology, v. 54, no. 2, p. 1005–1013, accessed September 26, 2021, at https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.9b04906. 

³ Sunderland, E.M., Hu, X.C., Dassuncao, C., Tokranov, A.K., Wagner, C.C., and Allen, J.G., 2019, A review of the pathways of human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and present understanding of health effects: Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, v. 29, no. 2, p. 131–147, accessed October 13, 2021, at https://doi.org/ 10.1038/ s41370-018- 0094- 1.

⁴U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018a, Data review and validation guidelines for perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) analyzed using EPA method 537: United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 910-R-18-001, 47 p., accessed March 5, 2022, at https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyPDF.cgi/P100VW12.PDF?Dockey=P100VW12.PDF.

⁵ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2018b, 2018 Edition of the drinking water standards and health advisories tables: United States Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 822-F-18-001, 20 p., accessed March 8, 2022, at https://semspub.epa.gov/work/HQ/100002014.pdf.