PFAS 'forever chemicals' above drinking water guidelines in global source water

A new international study, led by the University of New South Wales and published in Nature Geoscience, assessed the levels of PFAS contamination in surface and ground water around the globe.

It found that much of our global source water exceeds PFAS safe drinking limits.

“Many of our source waters are above PFAS regulatory limits,” says senior author of the study, UNSW Engineering Professor Denis O’Carroll.

“We already knew that PFAS is pervasive in the environment, but I was surprised to find out the large fraction of source waters that are above drinking water advisory recommendations,” he says.

“We’re talking above 5 per cent, and it goes over 50 per cent in some cases.”