Week 4- PFAS-t Track to Trouble

Sanjana I -

Hi friends!

It’s been another busy and exciting week as I continue to dive deeper into my PFAS project. I wanted to share a quick update on where I’m at and what I’ve been working on recently!

First off, I was scheduled to meet with my site advisor and her team and I was especially looking forward to shadowing Dr. Jack Welchert at the WEST Center in Tucson on March 5th. I was excited to attend a quick training session at the WEST Center before jumping into the lab and sitting in on a group meeting afterward. Unfortunately, I fell ill and couldn’t make the trip, but I’m looking forward to future opportunities at my site placement!

In the meantime, I’ve been making steady progress on my independent research project by continuing to collect and organize data. I’ve just completed identifying all contaminated water sources in Arizona, using resources like the ADEQ’s PFAS Interactive Map and others. For each water source, I’ve determined the counties they’re located in and the zip codes they serve.

To make the data more manageable, I’ve also been organizing everything into a Google Sheets spreadsheet. This will allow me to easily visualize the information and will make it easier for me to conduct statistical tests on them in the later parts of my independent research project. Below is a snapshot of how I’ve structured the spreadsheet categories to keep track of the data efficiently:

 

Looking ahead, I will now move on to the next step of my research project which will be to analyze U.S. Censure data to identify which communities inhabit the affected regions. I will be using data from the U.S. Census Bureau (census.gov) and other publicly available resources to obtain demographic information for the affected zip codes identified. Specifically, I will be looking at categories such as population density, age distribution (e.g., number of children and elderly residents), income levels, educational attainment, and ethnic/racial composition. There’s still a lot of work to be done, but things are coming together, and I can see how all of these individual steps are important for understanding the broader issue at hand. I’ll keep you all posted as things progress!

That’s all for now, but I’ll be back soon with more updates!!

Now for this week’s Not-so-Fun-Fact:  To date, the number of PFAS has been estimated to be anywhere from 4,700 (National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, n.d.) to 7 million (Schymanski et al., 2023). This demonstrates the scale of this issue and indicates a lack of knowledge surrounding the field as scientists are not able to provide a clear answer as to the number of PFAS that exist.

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Comments:

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    Olivia F.
    Hi Sanjana, I was wondering how can the information from the U.S. Census Bureau can help see the impact of PFAS contamination in specific communities?
    March 5, 2025 at 6:23 pm - Reply
    Aj
    Hi Sanjana, I am curious to know if you have come across any solutions to the issue of PFAS contamination in water. If I live in an area with a PFAS contamination, what measures could I take to remove PFAS from my water.
    March 6, 2025 at 8:57 pm - Reply
    tiffany_e
    Hi Sanjana! What are a few examples of the publicly available resources that you will use to collect demographic information? Are there any resources that aren't public that you can request access to?
    March 7, 2025 at 8:48 am - Reply
    Sanjana Iyer
    Hi Olivia! Great question! So for context, my project is about examining the geospatial distribution of PFAS in water sources and seeing if PFAS contamination tends to affect certain communities more than others. I’ve just finished gathering data on all the water sources in Arizona where PFAS levels are higher than the recommended limit set by the EPA. Now, I need to understand the demographics of the communities that rely on these affected water sources. I’m using data from the U.S. Census Bureau for this, as it provides detailed information about factors such as income, race, etc. The idea is to see if there’s a pattern in terms of which communities are more likely to be impacted by PFAS contamination. Specifically, I want to investigate whether low-income, rural, or minority communities are more likely to have higher exposure to PFAS-contaminated water. I hope that answered your question!
    March 10, 2025 at 3:21 pm - Reply
    Sanjana Iyer
    Hi Aj! Those are some great questions! So firstly, testing your water is crucial to determine the levels of PFAS and understand what kind of treatment might be necessary. You can do this by doing some research on your water supplier or maybe getting it tested in a lab setting. Next, when it comes to addressing PFAS contamination in water, there are a few practical ways to address it. The most common and effective methods include activated carbon filtration, especially Granular Activated Carbon (GAC), which is effective at removing PFAS. Another option is Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems, where water is pushed through a semi-permeable membrane and leaves behind contaminants like PFAS. Ion Exchange Resins are also used, which swap PFAS out of the water with other substances. If you're interested in more information on these methods, the EPA has a great article on the various treatment technologies here: https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/reducing-pfas-drinking-water-treatment-technologies
    March 10, 2025 at 3:55 pm - Reply
    Sanjana Iyer
    Hi Tiffany! Great question, and thanks for asking it! When it comes to collecting demographic information, there are a few publicly available resources that I’ll be using. One of the main ones is the U.S. Census Bureau, which is especially helpful because of its tools like the American Community Survey (ACS). This includes information on things like income, education, race, and housing. Additionally, there are many state and local government agencies, such as the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), that provide information on the demographic data of the region. Now, in regard to resources that aren't public, there are a few that could be accessed through special requests. For example, some government databases/data reports that I have looked at are not openly available, but you can submit a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to gain access. I hope that answers your question!
    March 10, 2025 at 4:09 pm - Reply

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