Poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have received a lot of media, regulatory, and scientific attention lately due to their discovery in drinking water supplies, groundwater, surface water, and other resources. The Interstate Technology & Regulatory Council (ITRC) has recently released a series of six fact sheets concerning PFAS that my colleague, Lisa McIntosh, and I have contributed to in addition to participating on an ITRC team responsible for their expansion into a detailed guidance document and web training, both expected in 2019.
Industry collaboration fosters learning, technical excellence
The six ITRC fact sheets each have a different focus. In addition to my involvement in founding the ITRC PFAS team, I was also a lead contributor to the remediation technologies and methods fact sheet, while Lisa contributed to the one on regulations, guidance, and advisories.
The ITRC— a nonprofit coalition of state and federal regulatory agencies, the regulated community, engineering consultants, technology vendors, academia, and community representatives—is just one of the environmental industry service groups promoting technical excellence that we’re proud to support through our continued engagement. Their objective is to reduce barriers to the use of technically sound, innovative technologies and processes for air, water, waste, and environmental remediation. One of the ways they aim to do this is by producing guidance documents and fact sheets, and developing training programs to communicate technical knowledge and expedite quality decision making. This is a mission we’re very enthusiastic about and have experts currently serving on several ITRC teams.
Supporting best practice development and guidance in various areas
In addition to the PFAS team Lisa and I work on, our experts also support the Characterization and Remediation of Fractured Rock team, a topic that’s particularly challenging. The ITRC Fractured Rock team has produced a guidance document regarding state of the art characterization tools and methods, remediation technologies, and fate and transport for common and emerging contaminants in fractured rock systems. We have yet another expert supporting the Light Non-Aqueous Phase Liquid (LNAPL) team, which is synthesizing current state of the art information on managing LNAPL-impacted sites, including remediation, natural source zone depletion, fate and transport, and analytical methods, incorporating guidance and tools from organizations around the world. Find their latest guidance document here.
As a firm, Woodard & Curran recognizes the value of industry service groups like ITRC to the environmental community, and we are continuing our involvement in 2018 with roles on these existing teams plus two new teams: Implementing the Use of Advanced Site Characterization Tools and Optimizing In-Situ Remediation Performance & Injection Strategies. We’re proud to be part of the group’s efforts and look forward to creating helpful guidance in these various areas.
