Per- and Poly-FluoroAlkyl Substances (PFAS) are a family of thousands of synthetic chemicals used for decades in a large variety of industries and products. A non-exhaustive list of the most common uses of PFAS are: textiles and fabrics, kitchenware & food packaging, personal care & household items, electronics, Aqueous Film-Forming Foam, building materials, etc.

They earned the nickname "forever chemicals" because the unique carbon-fluorine bond that makes them useful also makes them incredibly resilient in the environment, and intensely difficult to remove from living tissues.

For Florida water utilities — drinking water systems, domestic wastewater treatment plants, and the contractors, laboratories, and consultants that support them — PFAS is quickly moving from a niche research topic to an operational and compliance reality.

What are PFAS, and why "forever"?

PFAS, or Poly-Fluoro-Alkyl-Substances, are man-made compounds built from chains of carbon atoms bonded to fluorine. The Carbon-Fluorine bond is the strongest single bond in organic chemistry , which is why PFAS:

Do not meaningfully degrade under normal environmental conditions
Are easily mobilized through soil and into groundwater
Bio-accumulate & bio-concentrate in wildlife and people over time
Require significant efforts to reduce, denature, and destroy in aqueous environments.

Oftentimes when discussing PFAS, you will see the terms "Short-Chain" and "Long-Chain" thrown around - these terms refer to the length of the carbon tails of PFAS species (the number of carbon atoms in their molecular structure). To get into the weeds, PFAS are considered long-chain when they have ≥ 8 carbon atoms for carboxylic acids (e.g., PFOA), or ≥ 6 carbon atoms for sulfonic acids (e.g., PFOS).

Generally speaking, long-chain PFAS are considered as more toxic to humans at lower doses compared to short-chain PFAS, because long-chain PFAS take longer to be removed form the human body. This does not mean, however, that short-chain PFAS are "safe"; it means simply that short-chain PFAS do not present the same level of risk at low concentrations compared with their longer-chain siblings.

Two of the most talked-about compounds today are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS). Both have been almost entirely phased out of U.S. manufacturing, but legacy contamination is largely unmitigated and remains widespread.

Health effects of PFAS

PFAS are a large group of chemicals (more than 10,000 individual species have been identified to-date), but only a small subset are regularly tested and officially proven to be directly hazardous to human health. Despite there only being between 12 and 30 "officially proven" harmful species, novel species are being identified continuously, and the rigorous process of determining health impact means that a number of PFAS will "fly under the radar" until proven harmful to humans.

The express health effects of PFAS vary based on the specific species, but a number of individual species of PFAS are suspected carcinogens, or cancer-causing chemicals, with a few now associated specifically with kidney, testicular, and liver cancers. Past cancer, exposure to PFAS is linked to an extensive range of multi-system toxicity. A few of the primary health risks are as follows:

Immune System: PFAS can reduce the body's ability to fight infection, and some studies have demonstrated a lowered capacity for antibody response to vaccines.
Developmental: PFAS has been linked to lower infant birth weights, and on-going studies are evaluating post-birth effects on development.
Metabolic & Endocrine: PFAS are associated with elevated cholesterol levels, increased risk of obesity, and interference with thyroid function.
Teratogenic risks: PFAS have been proven to readily cross human placenta and accumulate directly in cord blood, acting as a teratogen. Teratogens are external agents (in this case PFAS chemicals) which disrupt fetal development, cause congenital anomalies (birth defects), and can even cause miscarriage in severe instances.

This is just a short list of potential health effects of PFAS. Please refer to the US Environmental Protection Agency's "Current Understanding of the Human Health and Environmental Risks of PFAS" article for more information.

There are many pathways through which PFAS enter the human body, but one of the most consistent paths is through drinking water. While the majority of daily exposure for most individuals comes from food, food packaging, nonstick cookware, and consumer products, Public Water Supplies provide a consistent, chronic, and quantifiable amount of PFAS to consumers through their distributed potable water. PFAS bioaccumulate, meaning they build up in concentration overtime inside living organisms. The half-life of PFAS (the time it takes your body to remove or eliminate half of a given substance) ranges anywhere from a few days for some short-chain PFAS all the way up to 9+ years for common long-chain PFAS such as PFOA and PFOS (two of the most regulated and concerning PFAS species). Because PFAS can take such a long time to be removed from the body, it is imperative that we "turn off the tap" - it is better to reduce the amount of PFAS entering the body than to try and remove it after it has been introduced.

Public Water Systems are not responsible for the production of PFAS chemicals and the resulting contamination of our waterways and aquifers, but the responsibility of safeguarding the public from chronic PFAS dosing falls on us and our potable water treatment facilities.

Where PFAS comes from in Florida

Florida's exposure pathways look similar to the rest of the country (and much of the world), but a few sources are especially relevant for water utilities within the state:

Aqueous Film-Forming Foam (AFFF) used at airports, military bases, and fire training facilities — a major driver of the recently signed House Bill 1019.
Industrial discharges: from manufacturing, plating, and specialty chemical operations
Landfill leachate: from decades of consumer products entering solid waste facilities
Biosolids land application: responsible for concentrating PFAS in soils over time
Human beings: PFAS species are naturally excreted from the body into sewers

Why utilities should care

Aside from the strong likelihood for increased PFAS regulation for the water industry in the future, PFAS are unusual because they touch nearly every part of the water cycle at once.

Drinking water

In April 2024, the U.S. EPA published the first national PFAS drinking water standards, setting enforceable Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs) for PFOA and PFOS at 4.0 parts per trillion, along with limits for several other PFAS compounds. Despite seeming like a niche issue for Public Water Systems sourcing their water from well fields and surface waters adjacent to AFFF-using installations, many "prisitine" water sources already contain measurable concentrations of PFAS - the USGS Tap Water Study estimates that 45% of the nation's drinking water contains one or more types of PFAS, and a published study in the Science of the Total Environment Journal found 100% of samples tested positive ranging from <1ng/L up to 1,102 ng/L.

Florida utilities that source from groundwater near known contamination — or from surface water influenced by upstream discharges — should already be sampling and planning for treatment as applicable based on source water quality.

Domestic wastewater

Wastewater treatment plants and the bacteria which drive their biological processes were never designed to remove, or evolved to absorb, PFAS. As mentioned early in the article, PFAS tend to bio-accumulate, meaning they gradually builup in individual organisms over their lifetimes. For WWTPs, this means the concentration of PFAS in your biosolids and Waste Activated Sludge are likely to be many times the concentration of your effluent; please note, this does not mean that the majority of PFAS in your WWTP are sequestered into biosolids - the vast majority of PFAS by volume leave your facility through its effluent, not its biosolids. In Florida, House Bill 1019 now requires quarterly PFAS sampling of biosolids and treated effluent at qualifying public entity facilities beginning July 1, 2026. Please click here to see an article covering HB 1019 and what it might mean for your facility.

Utility-adjacent operations

Beyond the treatment plant itself, utilities receive and disperse PFAS through:

Biosolids management: land application programs, composting, and disposal contracts
Stormwater: run-off from airports, industrial sites, and firefighting training areas may enter your sewer system through inflow & infiltration.
Reuse water: treated wastewater used for irrigation or groundwater recharge has the potential to increase concentrations of PFAS in the surficial aquifer (water table) over time.
Emergency response: elevated levels of PFAS are seen when AFFF has historically been used for incidents within a utility's service area or well-head protection zone.

Treatment options at a glance

There is no single "silver bullet" for PFAS. The three technologies which currently have the most utility-scale track record are:

Technology	Typical Use	Notes
Granular Activated Carbon (GAC)	Drinking water	Well-understood but expensive; media must be regenerated or land-filled after use
Ion Exchange (IX) Resin	Drinking water	Highly effective at removing both short- and long-chain PFAS; resin disposal must be a consideration
"True" Reverse Osmosis (hyper-filtration)	Drinking water, specialty reuse	High rejection efficiency of 90% - 99%; produces a concentrated reject stream that still contains PFAS

Each option listed above merely shifts PFAS from one medium to another rather than destroying it. Destruction technologies (supercritical water oxidation, electrochemical oxidation, high-heat pyrolysis ≤900°C) are advancing but are not yet legally mandated or standard practice for Florida utilities.

What Florida utilities should be doing now

Regardless of size, most Florida utilities can take reasonable near-term steps:

Understand your exposure. Review historical AFFF discharge records where possible, create an inventory of nearby industrial dischargers (WWTPs permitted for ≤1.0 MGD are already required by the Florida Administrative Code to have official pre-treatment programs), and consider mitigation of any known contamination in your source water or service area.
Sample early. Voluntary baseline sampling using EPA Method 1633 (or Method 537.1 for finished drinking water) gives you data before it is legally required. House Bill 1019 discusses the potential for cost-sharing initiatives by the FDEP for the purposes of domestic wastewater Method 1633 testing.
Talk to your FDEP district office. Rulemaking on both drinking water MCL implementation and HB1019 biosolids sampling is ongoing; written guidance is your friend. Chances are if your facility is a Public Water System, you likely already have been required to test for PFAS in your distributed water.
Plan for treatment costs. GAC, IX, and RO systems have significant capital and operating costs; budgeting cycles should reflect this now, not after enforcement begins. The last thing any utility wants (or its customers, for that matter) is to undergo a surprise rate study and change out of necessity.
Communicate with your ratepayers. PFAS is already in the news. Utilities that get ahead of the conversation with clear, factual information tend to fare better than those that don't. It is important to remember that the community you serve is often your utility's greatest asset - the combined voices of millions of Florida residents are much more likely to enact change in state and federal law than a couple of grumbling water utilities. Encourage your community to be aware of and participate in the discussion surrounding PFAS.

Conclusions

PFAS are not going away chemically, environmentally, or from the regulatory agenda. Florida utilities sit at the intersection of federal drinking water standards, new state-level wastewater sampling requirements, and ongoing questions about biosolids, stormwater, and reuse.

Utilities that begin characterizing their exposure now, engage FDEP early, and plan capital budgets around realistic treatment options will be in a materially better position than those that wait for enforcement to force the issue.

The best time to act on PFAS mitigation for your water utility was twenty years ago, and the second best time is now. Work with your utility's stakeholders to determine what path forward makes the most sense for you and your community.

TLDR

PFAS are thousands of synthetic "forever chemicals" that resist breakdown, bioaccumulate, and are linked to cancer, immune suppression, developmental effects, and endocrine disruption. Long-chain species like PFOA and PFOS are most regulated, but short-chain PFAS are not "safe" by default. The U.S. EPA finalized enforceable drinking water MCLs in April 2024, and Florida HB1019 requires quarterly PFAS sampling of biosolids and treated effluent at qualifying facilities starting July 1, 2026. Available treatments (GAC, ion exchange, RO) shift PFAS between media rather than destroying it. Utilities should characterize exposure, sample proactively, and engage FDEP early.

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Citation information

Author(s): Jackson Verley
Date of Publication: July 1, 2026
Date of Last Edit: July 1, 2026
Title of the Page/Article: PFAS: Forever Chemicals and Florida Water Utilities
Website Name: Verley Environmental