Managing PFAS Impacts
Our environmental and water professionals develop, test, and design solutions for managing and treating PFAS in drinking water, environmental media, wastewater and biosolids, stormwater, landfill leachate and recycled water. Scroll down or visit the links below to learn more.
Drinking Water
We assist public water utilities and private water companies with planning, assessment, technology evaluation, treatability testing, design, construction management, and turn-key design-build solutions for treatment of PFAS in groundwater and surface water supplies. Our experience allows for a high degree of confidence in plant modernization and expansion to address PFAS, using industry-leading models and design tools.
Russell Ford Global Director for Drinking Water & Reuse Solutions Get to know Russell
Project Highlight: Safeguarding the Orange County Water Basin
Conducted one of the U.S.’s largest PFAS pilot program to test and evaluate effectiveness of different types of media, including eight granular activated carbon products, four ion exchange resins, and two novel adsorbents, as well as reverse osmosis membranes, for removing PFAS from Orange County’s water supply. We supported the design of Orange County Water Basin’s pilot system and served as technical advisor during operation. We led the execution of treatability testing, including Rapid Small Scale Column Tests of granular activated carbon and novel adsorbents using well water from the impacted water sources. Testing led to multiple designs for two water producers - the City of Tustin and Golden State Water.
Environmental Media
We plan and develop cost-effective, sustainable, and regulatory-compliant PFAS management strategies for environmental media (including groundwater, soil, sediment, surface water, and air), focusing on mitigation of high-impact sources and protection of sensitive receptors. For almost a decade, we’ve partnered with clients, academic experts, and remediation vendors to develop and demonstrate innovative solutions for PFAS treatment, including in situ and nature-based solutions.
Bahman Bani PFAS Environmental Remediation Lead
Project and Research Highlights:
- Australian military installation: Developed a management plan for PFAS sources in soil, concrete and groundwater. This included remediation planning investigations, a feasibility assessment, treatability testing and ranking of soil, concrete, surface water and groundwater treatment options, including soil stabilization with powdered activated carbon and surface treated concrete leaching testing.
- In Situ Sequestration: Three pilot tests are underway through ESTCP and the US Navy NESDI program for stabilizing PFAS plumes in situ using injectable activated carbon, tailored polymers and adsorbent resin to prevent downstream impacts to humans and the environment. These technological advances, developed with our academic and industry partners through many years of research, could enhance PFAS sorption as much as 50x (therefore 50x longer life) currently available injectable adsorbents.
- In Situ Thermal Treatment of PFAS in the Vadose Zone: We partnered with the US Navy, academia, and vendors through ESTCP to demonstrate and validate field–scale thermal conduction heating to heat, desorb and volatilize PFAS and organic co-contaminants present in unsaturated soil. This innovative and powerful technology provides an in situ alternative to stabilization, landfilling, washing or incineration, which represent the state of the industry for addressing PFAS in soils.
- In Situ Natural System Solution for PFAS Transformation and Remediation: Our cost-efficient biogeochemical reactor and treatment wetland approach is being pilot tested at confidential sites in California and Australia. We are harnessing a diverse and highly specialized microbial ecosystem of naturally occurring bacteria and fungi, paired with plant uptake, that work in concert to reduce aqueous-phase PFAS. Preliminary results show 85-89% sustained reduction of total PFAS.
Wastewater and Biosolids
PFAS compounds received by water resources recovery facilities (WRRFs) not only pass through the system untreated, but also partition to the solids and end up in the resulting sludge or biosolids. The presence of PFAS in WRRF biosolids has raised a concern in recent years for beneficial land application programs as PFAS could mobilize in soil, leach into run-off, infiltrate into groundwater or be taken up by biota. With mounting concern about the presence of PFAS in biosolids, some regulators have begun their own evaluations and provided various land application guidelines. We assist water utilities with navigating regulatory requirements by developing Adaptive Biosolids Master Planning and conducting PFAS investigations in biosolids and land applied sites. We’ve also partnered with clients, academic experts, and vendors to develop and demonstrate alternative treatment solutions for PFAS in biosolids.
Todd Williams Global Principal for Residuals Resource Recovery
Project and Research Highlights:
- Southern Arizona PFAS Biosolids Case Study: Jacobs partnered with Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department, the University of Arizona and National Science Foundation to conduct a study at long-term biosolids land application sites in Pima County, Arizona. Soil, well water and biosolids were collected and analyzed for a suite of PFAS compounds. The study, the largest of its kind undertaken, presented data which demonstrate very low concentrations of PFAS compounds in soils receiving biosolids.
- Evaluation of Pyrolysis as a Method for Biosolids Treatment: Jacobs partnered with a vendor to trial PFAS removal from municipal biosolids using a bench-scale pyrolysis kiln. The results showed PFAS mass reduction of up to 99.9%.
Stormwater
The use of natural and passive treatment offers a cost-effective solution to the significant and growing problem of stormwater and surface waters by PFAS. Ponds, wetlands, and media filtration now have a widespread application in stormwater and surface water treatment planning. Where land availability and flow hydraulics allow, media filtration systems may be adapted to address PFAS.
Landfill & Leachate Management
Landfilling is one of the most common disposal methods for end-of-life consumer products. A variety of consumer products, for example, paper, textiles, carpets, and packaging containing PFAS are sent to municipal landfills at the end of their useful lives. Following disposal, PFAS are released from the waste through leaching and common landfill treatment technologies may be inadequate to treat PFAS. To address this challenge, we’re optimizing technologies for PFAS treatment.
Research Highlight: Innovative Technologies to Treat PFAS in Landfill Leachate
Under an Environmental Research and Education Foundation grant, Jacobs assisted Clarkson University to test two novel methods, electrical discharge plasma and electrochemical oxidative filtration, to destroy PFAS in landfill leachate. These technologies were evaluated on several leachate qualities and considered application with and without physical/chemical and biological pretreatment. The identified treatment methods are likely to be less effected by the other constituents such as suspended solids and organic matter that are also present at high concentrations in leachate than more traditional PFAS treatment technologies. Data obtained in bench-scale testing were used to prepare a feasibility assessment and optimize a pilot-scale system for field deployment.
Water Reuse
With increasing water scarcity and the growing impacts of climate change, implementing effective water reuse strategies becomes essential for sustainable water management. Reuse is continuing to evolve as improving water sustainability through fit-for-reuse design is increasing reclamation through non-potable, indirect potable, and even direct potable reuse.
Industrialized societies have generated new chemicals without focused evaluation of mitigation from the water cycle. Of particular concern is up-cycling PFAS. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has developed PFAS specific actions under the Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Water Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response and Liability Act, and Toxic Substances Control Act, which can impact water reuse systems. Jacobs has deep experience planning, piloting, and designing “conventional” and “advanced” water reuse systems and their ability to mitigate PFAS.
Funding support
Jacobs helps U.S. utility clients identify and secure funding for PFAS projects, including federal, state and foundation grants. Our Government Relations team monitors changes to grant and loan programs at the federal level, including the $10 billion available for PFAS monitoring and treatment projects through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). We also monitor funding available to water systems through PFAS-related litigation and settlements.
Our team knows what funding agencies are looking for and can consult on the grant development process, including project scoping and prioritization, technical analyses, grant writing, graphics, production, and federal/state government relations.