“The key here is that we have a plan, and we will implement it,” said Jenni Dorsey-Spitz, an environmental technical advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Energy, and Environment. “We aren’t starting from scratch. The Department of the Air Force, without a regulatory standard, leaned forward to start addressing PFAS and we will continue leaning forward with the new standard.”

To date, DAF has spent more than $2.2 billion to identify and mitigate PFAS.

Speaking at an Air Force Civil Engineer Center-sponsored environmental restoration summit between DAF environmental experts and state and federal regulators in early May, Dorsey-Spitz said the established levels will help the DAF support its ability to detect and treat PFAS by finally having standards for clean-up.

“The MCL provides clear guidance on what the regulatory community considers a reasonable standard for assessing risk to human health,” she said.

Since 2015, the DAF has conducted preliminary assessments and site inspections at 204 installations to determine whether AFFF may have been used or released into the environment.  Of those, 191 had confirmed releases of PFAS. The DAF proactively took action to mitigate risk to human health by providing alternate drinking water to impacted private well owners, funding water purveyors to install filtration systems, and taking interim response actions such as installing pump and treat systems to prevent further migration of PFAS in groundwater.

AFCEC, a primary subordinate unit of the Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center, is leading the response effort under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act to identify and mitigate PFAS impacts in the environment.

The DAF will also conduct quarterly sampling and replace ion exchange or Granular Activated Carbon, or GAC, systems as needed to guarantee that delivered water remains below action levels.

“There’s a lot of technical work that goes on behind the scenes to make sure we have sufficient data and ensure what we put in the ground is actually going to be successful,” said Dr. Shannon Garcia, AFCEC Risk Assessment subject matter expert.

“DAF continues to make great progress in executing the CERCLA process, while at the same time taking appropriate interim response actions to mitigate risk while concurrently exploring the application of new PFAS (remediation) technologies,” said Dr. Mahalingam Ravichandran, AFCEC PFAS Integration Executive.