PFOS Contamination - well water c

[Tsheridan]

Recent well water test returned PFOS level of 65
NYS where house is located Allows maximum level for PFOS 10 ppt

Is anyone aware of whole house water filter that would eliminate or reduce PFOS below 10 ppt

any assistance with this matter is appreciated

 

[Geofd]

You may want to talk to a company that does water treatment,

 

[Tom the Elder]

Before shopping treatment companies or DIY treatment systems, do your homework. First, to find out what kind of systems might work, talk to state agencies that deal with groundwater contamination (in CA they are Dept. of Toxic Substances Control & Regional Water Quality Control Boards). Then talk to County health and environmental agencies about what is being done in your area - if you have it others do too. You also might want to double check the test on your well. PFOS are ubiquitous in the environment and testing agencies have to be very carful to be sure equipment used to collect the sample is not the actual source of the PFOS reported.

 

[Tsheridan]

Thank you for those suggestions- have contacted local dept of health - they advised on steps to remediate- also put me in touch with state department of environmental conservation- who may consider paying for system to treat issue!

 

[PerplexedPlumber]

A lab performing this test should be well-qualified. Should be ISO 17025 accredited, minimally, with experience and QC data for this test specifically. I think I ran across a list of labs that are performing testing of PFOS and other PFAS on a State or EPA site, but didn't save it. Now that you have a positive result, your State health or DNR office should also sample and test, because as Tom said, it will be ubiquitous for your area.

There may be treatment systems that can efficiently reduce these levels, but there are no simple indicators for when those treatment systems will require maintenance. So, once you have sourced a reliable lab, periodic testing will be required to determine frequency of maintenance.

 

[Tsheridan]

Thank you for the information
I spoke to a representative from state department of environmental conservation
Received a interesting explanation of the levels established by various govt agencies for the compound PFOS
The EPA has a level of 70 , each state has their own level , NYS has 10, CA has 6
All parts per trillion - ppt
I initially thought these were levels above which established a unhealthy situation
Turns out those are levels at which the water source requires investigation
As explained to me there is a fudge factor built in - and the real level at which the water becomes unhealthy is 100 ppt
On top of that they really don’t know the impact on people - there are many other variables which will contribute to someone suffering health effects
Two people drinking water the same amounts from the same well for the same period time - one could get sick and the other fine

read where a municipal water system in NY with levels of PFOS over the 10 ppt limit was given a 2 year extents correct the problem due to Covid

While I am addressing the issue - don’t believe the problem is as serious as I first believed

 

[PerplexedPlumber]

I would add an RO system to this water for drinking or cooking purposes. There is a lot of research underway on the >80,000 forms of fluorinated compounds that appear in water, food and air. As a class, fluorinated compounds have a range of health impacts and are resistant to degradation (so continue to build up). PFOS has more published research on toxicology than most other forms, but there will undoubtedly be more that we know in the coming decades. I saw recently that fluorine gas is released into molded plastic bottles before those are used for packaging beverages, and research on the compounds formed from this method is only beginning. It's hard to manage your risk of exposure without information, but chances are good that compounds in this class will be tied to significant health issues when more is known. For now, if you are 60% of the way toward the current "unhealthy" amount, reducing your intake from water would be a good health investment.