Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been detected in public water supplies and private wells at or near active and former manufacturing facilities owned by Saint-Gobain. At these sites in the eastern United States, a group of potentially responsible parties is working with local, state, and federal regulatory authorities.
Barr is part of a collaborative consulting team conducting remedial investigations and feasibility studies. The team is evaluating potential release mechanisms from multiple facilities, including sampling and analyzing process streams, air emissions, and process wastewater. Site investigations involve soil, groundwater, surface water, and sediment sampling; interior building surveys; and review of historical and background materials. Barr is leading development and iterative refinement of complex site conceptual models that incorporate coupled air-dispersion, groundwater-flow, and fate-and-transport models. All work is being completed in accordance with strict quality assurance protocols.
Interim remedial actions, including groundwater extraction and treatment and in-situ groundwater treatment, are being considered at several of the sites in tandem with investigations. Barr has conducted PFAS water-treatment bench- and pilot-testing, evaluated treatment-technology options such as granular activated carbon and ion exchange, and designed a full-scale pretreatment system. Our work has been closely coordinated with the potentially responsible parties and regulators addressing intense public interest in these sites.
Learn more about our PFAS engineering and environmental capabilities.