Tackling PFAS in New Jersey: DEP Strategy, Bans, and Future Action Plan
Katie Angarone, Chief Strategy Officer of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), presented an overview of the state's ongoing efforts to address PFAS contamination. She highlighted key achievements, including providing resources for clean water programs, the ban on AFFF firefighting foam containing PFAS chemicals. Katie outlined future priorities, including developing a source reduction program, enhancing community assistance, improving transparency through a new visualization tool, and proposing surface water quality standards. She also discussed ongoing research initiatives and the need to address PFAS in various frontiers such as air, landfills, and private well owners. The presentation emphasized the importance of collaboration and a systems approach to reduce human exposure to PFAS in New Jersey.
Inside New Jersey’s Fight Against PFAS Forever Chemicals | Officials, Scientists & Community Leaders
The fireside chat session focused on PFAS regulation and management, with discussions led by state officials and community leaders. NJ Senator Linda Goldstein presented on the state's efforts to regulate PFAS as a class and the challenges involved, noting collaboration with other states and international efforts. Senator Linda Greenstein and Assemblywoman Lisa Swain discussed their legislative work on PFAS, including the "Protecting Against Forever Chemicals Act" and efforts to reduce exposure through source reduction, education, and labeling requirements. Mayor Paul from Ridgewood shared the community's experience implementing a $150 million PFAS filtration system, emphasizing the importance of regulation in raising public awareness. The discussion highlighted the need for coordinated efforts at state and local levels to address PFAS contamination effectively.
New Jersey’s PFAS Water Crisis: Prevention, Treatment & Cleanup Solutions
The fireside chat session focused on addressing PFAS contamination in New Jersey's water systems. Representatives from Jersey Water Works, Veolia, and ResinTech discussed their approaches to tackling the issue through prevention, treatment, and remediation. Key points included the need for continued legislation, funding for wastewater and drinking water utilities, and increased industrial pretreatment to prevent PFAS contamination. The panel emphasized the importance of collaboration between industry, academia, government, and community leaders to implement effective solutions. They also highlighted the challenges of monitoring and disposing of concentrated PFAS waste, as well as the need to ensure that environmental justice is prioritized in addressing water contamination issues across all communities.
New Jersey’s PFAS Fight: New Laws, Consumer Safety & Cleanup Challenges
The distinguished keynote session focused on PFAS contamination challenges and legislative efforts in New Jersey. Keynote speakers emphasized the need for coordinated input from industry and experts to create effective legislation, highlighting the PFAS Innovation Consortium as a resource for data and advocacy. The discussion addressed funding gaps for small communities, the complexity of treating PFAS, and the importance of cross-sector collaboration to address the issue. Amy Goldsmith from Clean Water Action presented on legislative efforts to ban PFAS in various products, including firefighting gear, apparel, and artificial turf, while noting the need for consumer pressure to drive change and the existence of opposition from certain trade associations.
PFAS Solutions Explained: Focus on Innovation, Regulation & Water Cleanup
In his keynote talk, Rich Calbi discussed the challenges and solutions surrounding PFAS contamination, emphasizing the need for new technologies and collaborative efforts to address the issue. He highlighted the Partnership Innovation Consortium for PFAS, which aims to bridge the gap between regulations and solutions by connecting academic innovation, utility operators, and regulators. The discussion touched on the high costs of treatment, the difficulty in communicating the issue to the public, and the need for comprehensive bans on PFAS in consumer products. NJIT also mentioned the importance of leveraging settlement funds to help utilities with cleanup efforts and stressed the need for both technology and policy changes to solve the PFAS problem..
Academic Panel Session Reveals PFAS Health Study and Breakthrough Cleanup Research
Dr. Robert Laumbach from Rutgers School of Public Health in the academic panel session focused on PFAS contamination and remediation efforts. He presented research on health impacts in Paulsboro, New Jersey, where studies showed declining PFAS levels in blood samples following water treatment interventions, including the installation of granular activated carbon in 2016. The research team is conducting a multi-site study across the country examining the health effects of PFAS exposure, measuring over 100 biomarkers in 6,000 adults and 700 children. Peter Jaffe from Princeton University and Arjun Venkatesan from NJIT discussed biological remediation efforts, describing a process using acid bacteria strain A6 to degrade PFAS compounds, including successful laboratory experiments showing 60% PFOA removal in microbial electrolysis cells and enzyme-based treatments achieving up to 50% PFOS removal from contaminated soil.
New PFAS Detection and Cleanup Technologies
The academic panel session continued to focus on PFAS detection, treatment, and remediation technologies being developed at NJIT and discussed their potential for commercialization and implementation. Dibs Sarkar from Stevens Institute of Technologies presented two green technologies using aluminum-based water treatment residuals (WTRs) for in situ treatment of PFAS in stormwater and groundwater, including a granular filter media and engineered mulch. Michael Van Ter Sluis from the NJIT-NJII Venture Studio highlighted their work with Pure Trace Labs, a company developing next-generation PFAS testing technology with a lower limit of detection of one part per trillion, and discussed their customer discovery efforts showing strong market demand for consumer PFAS testing. The panelists agreed that while drinking water should be a priority for PFAS regulation, breaking the broader PFAS cycle will require multiple approaches, including point treatments, air pollution regulation, and consumer education about product choices.
PFAS Detection and Treatment Strategies and Regulations
The PFAS Treatment Technologies Implementation and Regulations session focused on PFAS detection and treatment technologies, with discussions led by featuring presentations from Ali Pojaman from Veolia and Kristen Tedesco from NJDEP. Ali highlighted the challenges of implementing PFAS treatment technologies, emphasizing the need for collaboration between regulatory bodies and water utilities, while Kristen detailed New Jersey's regulatory approach to PFAS treatment, including the use of pilot studies and temporary treatment approvals to facilitate the implementation of new technologies. The discussion emphasized the importance of aligning budget, time, and quality considerations in implementing PFAS treatment solutions.
PFAS in New Jersey: Treatment Technologies, Funding & Utility Implementation
The meeting focused on PFAS treatment technologies and regulatory approaches in New Jersey. NJIT presented examples of water systems implementing various treatment methods, including anion exchange media changes and electrostatic removal of PFAS, highlighting the importance of pilot studies and temporary treatment approvals. The discussion covered funding options through the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund for small systems, and recommendations for home treatment using reverse osmosis systems with water softeners. The session concluded with an introduction to an industry panel featuring representatives from American Water, CDMS Smith, Alion, and Arcadis, who were set to discuss translating research advances into real-world solutions for utilities and communities. NJIT Provost John Pelesko extended welcome remarks to attendees emphasizing the importance of PFAS detection and decontamination technologies and translation research and validation as strategic priorities for NJIT for societal benefits.
PFAS Innovation in Water Treatment: Research, Pilot Programs & Scaling Solutions
In the industry panel session, Kenan Ozekin, Chief Research Officer presented an overview of the Water Research Foundation's PFAS research, highlighting investments of over $12 million across 40+ projects focusing on treatment, occurrence, destruction, residuals management, and monitoring. Lauren Weinrich from American Water discussed their extensive PFAS research and pilot programs across 14 states, emphasizing the need for collaboration and sharing expertise to address PFAS challenges. Charles Schaefer from CDM Smith explained considerations for implementing new PFAS technologies, including understanding PFAS composition and focusing on concentrated waste streams for more effective treatment. Jason Hnatko from Allonnia presented their Surface Active Foam Fractionation technology and discussed challenges in scaling innovative technologies, including investment barriers and regulatory uncertainty. Brent Alspach from Arcadis provided strategic recommendations on translating destructive PFAS technologies to full-scale deployment, recommending focus on residuals management rather than the main drinking water flow to overcome regulatory and scalability challenges.
PFAS Research to Real-World Water Treatment: Utilities, Industry & Advocacy in NJ
The special session on PFAS Communication and Advocacy focused on PFAS research and technology implementation in water treatment. Paula Figueroa-Vega from Jersey Water Works and NJ Future explained the need of better communication and awareness of PFAS chemicals in the society for their harmful effects. Dr. Weinrich discussed American Water's approach to balancing innovative academic research with operational readiness, emphasizing the importance of real-world testing and partnership in technology development. The discussion concluded with a presentation by Paula Figueroa-Vega outlining the organization's six thematic areas for addressing PFAS and emphasized the importance of coordinated advocacy and unusual partnerships between different stakeholders.
Launch of the New Jersey PFAS Partnership Innovation Consortium (NJ PFAS-PIC): Innovation, Data & Policy Action
The meeting focused on the launch of the New Jersey PFAS Consortium (NJPFAS-PIC), which aims to address PFAS contamination through innovation translation, data sharing, and advocacy. The consortium brings together four universities, 15 companies, and various stakeholders to accelerate technology development from ideation to commercialization. Key pillars of the consortium include accelerating innovation translation, sharing data to drive technology development and workforce training, and driving societal impact through advocacy and policy influence. The group discussed the importance of scaling up technologies and noted that New Jersey is leading the nation in proactive standards and regulations for PFAS. The conversation ended with announcements about a $362,000 consortium partnership proposal and details about professional development credits for attendees.