Read the full article by Denise Moreno Ramírez (The University of Arizona News)
“A $1.3 million grant from the Department of Defense’s Environmental Security Technology Certification Program will allow University of Arizona researchers to further study how synthetic chemicals known as PFAS move through soil and threaten groundwater.
PFAS, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are composed of nearly 3,000 synthetic chemicals and have been widely used in industrial and consumer products since the 1940s, including firefighting foams, paints, food packaging, water-resistant clothing and household cookware. In 2019, the Department of Defense cited a total of 651 military installations that have been impacted by these synthetic chemicals.
At a local level, PFAS not only pose a long-term threat to groundwater quality, but also a long-term challenge to scientists tasked with cleaning them up, explained Bo Guo, the principal investigator of the project and an assistant professor in the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences.”