In 2019, an industrial client received a notice from the Great Lakes Water Authority (GLWA) indicating that its wastewater discharge could be a major contributor to the mass loading of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the local wastewater treatment plant. The GLWA informed the client that it needed to take on a PFAS reduction strategy, so the client turned to Barr to help identify and reduce the PFAS content found in its process.
Barr worked with the client to address the loading by identifying the potential sources through mass balance sampling. This included evaluating the facility process and previous sampling conducted by the GLWA. Due to the varied inputs in the process, we determined that the samples collected by the GLWA were not adequately characterizing the PFAS content of the discharge, and we worked with the facility to implement a more representative collection technique. The results demonstrated that the PFAS data presented by the GLWA were not representative of the facility’s actual discharge. The segmented mass balance sampling also showed where the intermittent PFAS detections were occurring in the process, so we recommended changes, such as more frequent cleanouts and service on the client’s internal processes, that could address the issue for the long term.
Learn more about our PFAS engineering and environmental capabilities.
(stock photo shown above)