At a recent event in Commerce City, Colorado, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin launched the first ever agency-wide PFAS Technology, Evaluation, Coordination and Harmonization (PFAS TECH) strategy. This new effort aims to help catapult technology innovation on PFAS while supporting practical tools, funding and technical assistance to benefit communities addressing local PFAS challenges.
The PFAS TECH strategy prioritizes collaboration between EPA, federal partners, states, local leaders, and the private sector. EPA’s goals through this new strategy are to power innovation in research and development; demonstrate what’s possible through pilot-scale initiatives; and translate progress into practical actions.
“Partnerships are the key to unlocking innovation and next-generation technologies. To that end, EPA’s Office of Water is actively pursuing public-private partnerships to promote research, development and scalable water treatment technologies for PFAS removal,” says EPA PFAS Lead and Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water Jess Kramer. “These partnerships will accelerate technology breakthroughs to reduce PFAS in water while also reducing the cost of treatment to save money.”
In addition to developing partnerships, EPA intends to issue grant funding for research related to the destruction of PFAS. For example, funding will be available under the Science to Achieve Results grant program and Small Business Innovation Research grant program.
"EPA is prioritizing research and development on PFAS and ensuring our science is gold standard and directly applicable to needs in local communities as they work to address PFAS pollution,” says Teresa Booeshaghi, associate administrator for the Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions. “One such study is conducting full scale pilot tests to optimize the performance of drinking water treatment methods being deployed all over the country.”
To catalyze the development and use of new technologies for treatment of PFAS in communities, we must work to test the technology in real-world scenarios and make the new innovations scalable to the needs. EPA’s PFAS TECH strategy will demonstrate what is possible through pilot-scale initiatives.
“Hazardous waste cleanup sites managed by EPA project managers are actively addressing PFAS contamination, and they can provide excellent opportunities for advancing critical technology to sample for and remediate PFAS,” says Steven Cook, principal deputy assistant administrator for the Office of Land and Emergency Management. “We have pilot projects ongoing across multiple regions, ranging from foam fractionation for PFAS removal from groundwater to evaluation of the efficacy of incremental sampling, which could drastically lower sampling costs.”
To learn more, or to get involved, visit the PFAS TECH Strategy webpage.
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