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Transport and Fate of PFAS and Micro/Nanoplastics in Groundwater
Summary
This review explains how landfills and wastewater treatment plants co-release microplastics and PFAS into groundwater, where both contaminant classes migrate through subsurface systems via advection, diffusion, sorption, and dilution processes. The co-transport of PFAS on microplastic surfaces in groundwater represents a compounded contamination risk for drinking water sources globally.
Landfills and wastewater treatment plants have become major sources of new types of pollution, particularly microplastics and chemicals called PFAS. These PFAS chemicals are especially worrying because they're found everywhere in our environment, they don't break down naturally, and they can harm living things. That's why health experts are really concerned about them. Both landfills and wastewater facilities are releasing lots of these new pollutants, including tiny plastic particles and PFAS chemicals, into the environment. What makes this worse is that these substances are completely artificial - they don't exist in nature at all. PFAS is actually a huge group of different chemicals that manufacturers use to make things like non-stick pans, waterproof clothing, paper products, and firefighting foam. Companies love using these chemicals because they're great at repelling water and oil, they can handle extreme temperatures, and they reduce friction. After decades of making and using these chemicals, they've ended up scattered throughout our environment. When PFAS gets into groundwater, it behaves pretty much like other dissolved pollutants - it moves around through processes like water flow, spreading out, sticking to soil particles, and getting diluted.