Chemical Hunters

Eagle students join the effort to measure local PFAS contaminations.

With grant support from the Washington Department of Ecology, an EWU professor and his team of student researchers are leading a project to measure the spread of potentially harmful per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances — the “forever chemicals” more commonly known as PFAS — to sources of drinking water on the West Plains.

The $450,000 grant covers the cost of testing private and public wells, and other water sources, for PFAS concentrations, says Chad Pritchard, the EWU professor of geosciences who serves as the project’s principal investigator. The grant has also helped the team acquire state-of-the art groundwater modeling software needed to create 3-D water flow maps, to fund student travel and to cover other expenses.

“If you go to most universities, these kinds of research projects would be given to master’s or PhD students,” says Pritchard. “But here, we push our students to the next level as undergraduates. And that’s why they get hired and have great futures.”

Polyfluoroalkyl substances were developed in the 1940s to repel oil and water while resisting heat, qualities that made them particularly valuable in firefighting. This was especially true at airports, where PFAS-containing foams were developed to extinguish flames and contain flammable vapors after crashes.

Unfortunately, in recent years the chemicals have been linked to harmful effects on humans and animals. And when media reports in 2017 revealed that PFAS foams had been used for decades at Fairchild Air Force Base and Spokane International Airport, there was concern, soon borne out by testing, that forever chemicals might have compromised nearby water sources.

The work by Pritchard and his students is helping to discover the extent of that contamination, while providing a path to safe drinking water — and potential clean-up support — for residents of impacted properties.

Mapping contamination and conducting testing is ongoing. But so far the EWU team have collected samples from close to 150 private wells — along with water from local lakes, rivers and streams — and submitted them for evaluation. Most sites have tested within state limits. Some properties, however, especially those located closer to known sources of contamination, have not. For those households, the EWU team has been following up to help residents gain access to resources for water deliveries and filtration systems.

That has “brought a lot of people peace,” Pritchard says.