POET for PFAS Helps Sell Home

Again, Who’s Paying for This?

At a recent meet-up with both U.S. and Ohio EPA bigwigs, the local pros shared how tough it is to get the dough needed for crucial upgrades. Even though Ohio is set to get $82 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, Chris Brausch, the county's sanitary engineer, thinks it's still not enough to foot the bill. Brausch says "these projects are millions of dollars. Litigation will also only cover so much. For our ratepayers, the fear is this will fall on them." Warren County's water treatment facility will invest a cool $9 million on a new ion exchange system to try and get PFAS levels down to zero, way before the 2029 cut-off.

Stop the Source

While cleaning up PFAS in the water is a great start, states are realizing that they should be reducing the amount of PFAS being produced in the first place. Earlier this month, the governor of Colorado signed a bill that effectively bans the sale or distribution of certain products containing PFAS, with the phaseout starting in 2025 and continuing through 2028. Colorado joins a growing list of 12 other states with bans on these types of products.

POET for PFAS Helps Sell Home

In a recent article from Yakima Herald-Republic, the reporter talks through how the Army is helping install POETs (Point-of-Entry-Treatment systems) in homes in Washington State. But what caught our eye wasn't just the regulations or the tracking of contaminants; it was the real-world impact on homeowners and buyers. People really do care about water safety, and the proof is in the property pudding. Lynn Mitzel, a homeowner in the area, had struggled to sell her property due to PFAS worries. Once the POET systems were installed, filtering out these persistent chemicals, her home didn't just sell—it flew off the market in less than a week, fetching thousands more than the asking price.

Not All Doom-and-Gloom

In a recent update from the Coastal Review, it was reported that the number of North Carolinians affected by PFAS-contaminated tap water is decreasing daily; as local water suppliers upgrade their systems, fewer people are exposed to these harmful chemicals.

On the research side, UC Riverside and Clarkson University scientists recently discovered a new way to tackle these chemicals. The researchers have developed a method using UV light and a process called electrochemical oxidation that can almost completely destroy PFAS in water. This could be a game-changer for water treatment facilities and even help clean equipment used in firefighting.

What else is happening:

• Bottoms up! The German city Weissenburg and American water tech company Xylem team up to create a German lager from recycled wastewater

• WC&P International released an in-depth industry profile on HANS Premium Water

• In case you missed it, last week was National Drinking Water Week and municipalities all over celebrated: the City of Loveland released some fun and interactive content for it, and watch Kentucky American Water discuss why drinking water is so important (2 min watch)