PFAS in wastewater: the industrial sources behind each treatment plant
PFAS sampling of industrial users, rolled up to the plant that receives their wastewater
A municipal treatment plant does not make PFAS; it receives it. Most of what arrives comes from a small number of industrial users, such as landfills, metal finishers, airports and industrial laundries, and the way to keep it out of the effluent and the biosolids is to find those sources and treat the wastewater before it reaches the sewer.
States that require plants to sample their industrial users publish the sampling in permit files, one spreadsheet at a time. Klarifi extracts them, links every industrial user to the plant it discharges to and keeps the history. The pages below show the picture by state, by plant and by industry.
By state
PFAS in Michigan wastewater
236 industrial users sampled at 49 treatment plants, 133 above the 12 ng/L PFOS screening level.
1,736 samples, 2023–2024
Michigan is the first state; others follow as their sampling records are extracted.
Related data
PFAS in wastewater: questions
How does PFAS get into a wastewater treatment plant?
Through the sewer. Household products contribute a low background level, but the concentrations that cause trouble come from industrial users: landfills sending leachate, metal finishers whose tanks still release PFOS from old fume suppressants, airports and bases where firefighting foam was used, industrial laundries, paper and packaging makers and waste treaters. Conventional treatment does not destroy PFAS, so what comes in leaves in the effluent or the biosolids.
Why look at industrial users rather than the plant itself?
Because that is where the problem can be solved. A plant that is above a water quality value has to find the sources in its collection system and make them reduce their discharge, through its industrial pretreatment programme. Knowing which users are the sources tells you where pretreatment systems, tank clean-outs and monitoring are needed.
Which states are covered?
Michigan today, where the state requires plants with a pretreatment programme to sample probable sources and report what they find. Klarifi also holds the industrial users on record for plants in Iowa, Florida and Georgia; those appear on the plants’ pretreatment pages without sampling data.
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