This session invites papers on recent advancements related to terrestrial contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) as well as other emerging or traditional contaminants that:
• improve knowledge & understanding of fate and transport in the soil-groundwater system, including surface water interactions
• enhance, develop or create new models
• improve site characterization & remediation
• address new challenges in meeting regulatory goals and policy development
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a relatively new class of contaminants that pose a threat to drinking water production and the environment globally. PFAS combines aqueous mobility, extreme recalcitrance and adverse health effects at very low concentrations, which requires immediate actions to reduce their release and spreading, better understand their transport and associated risks, and remove them from the environment. The unique properties of PFAS also pose many additional challenges for groundwater management, risk assessment and remediation. Several PFAS-specific fate and transport processes need to be better understood and there is an urgent need for improved remediation and mitigation methods.
PFAS have produced additional challenges to our basic knowledge and models of solute fate and transport in the subsurface. To address these challenges and advance our fundamental knowledge, careful investigations over different scales as well as improved models to deal with both chemical and geologic site complexities are needed. This session will have particular focus on complex contaminant transport phenomena and their upscaling from the laboratory to real field sites as well as site characterization.