Kendrick Jaglal, P.E.

When PFAS emerged as a contaminant of concern, the focus was initially on drinking water, soil and then groundwater. With sediment being the eventual sink for most anthropogenic chemicals, sediment began to receive increasing attention and many related questions started to arise. One key observation was the affinity of PFAS to adsorb to NAPL in sediment which means that NAPL remediation may also involve PFAS. This article discusses current considerations that would be associated with assessing and remediating PFAS contamination in sediment and sediment-containing NAPL.

Sediment has historically been a sink for legacy pollutants contained in industrial discharges to surface water. These pollutants have primarily been polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), metals, organic solvents and non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPL). However, over the past several years perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) began receiving attention for their presence in soil, groundwater and air and the focus later expanded to sediment.

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