Overview
- In the past decade, a few studies have looked at precipitation across the Great Lakes region to see if PFAS would turn up there. Invariable, it has been detected, albeit at very low concentrations. This is concerning because even though the levels are very dilute in rain droplets, it indicates that they can readily concentrate in the environment where they fall.
- Recently, community activists and environmental justice advocates in Detroit, Dearborn, Flint and Ann Arbor joined forces to better understand PFAS accumulation in the air around heavily industrial areas in Southeast Michigan and how it impacts residents. The Ecology Center provided funding and technical support for this project, and worked with community partners to pilot a study of rainwater in the region. Using buckets, rainwater samples were collected in Dearborn, Detroit, and Ann Arbor by community partners and analyzed by the College of Wooster. The analysis utilized the EPA’s method to measure 43 PFAS compounds, including TFA (trifluoroacetic acid), a breakdown product of common refrigerants used in air conditioning. (Source: *directly quoted* https://www.ecocenter.org/our-work/healthy-stuff-lab/detecting-pfas-air-using-rainwater-collection)
- The results revealed the presence of PFAS in all three rainwater samples. Dearborn and Ann Arbor contained high levels of TFA. Several other PFAS chemicals, including legacy compounds PFOS and PFOA, were also detected. When TFA wasn’t accounted for, Dearborn and Detroit had the highest total PFAS.
- Previous research finds high levels of TFA don’t always correlate with other PFAS chemicals, in part because TFA is more volatile and may travel long distances. Therefore, it is helpful to consider the other PFAS separately from TFA. When TFA is left out of the PFAS total concentration, as shown in Table 1, southwest Detroit and Dearborn stand out as having more than double the amount of PFAS in rain than Ann Arbor. This result may reflect a greater number of industrial sources of PFAS in Detroit and Dearborn.
- PFAS chemicals in rainwater may also be compared to those in air, since rain brings pollutants from air down to earth. Michigan’s 2022 air results from Dearborn and Detroit showed substantial overlap with the rainwater results in those areas.
- Fully understanding the different PFAS profiles in the air in different locations will require repeated sampling over time. PFAS can be transported everywhere (even the Arctic) and move long distances. Unfortunately, PFAS have been found all over the world in water and rain. However, each site tested in this pilot study has a different chemical profile, which may reflect the fact that while PFAS does transport long distances, local sources influence the levels and types found in rainwater
- Presently, the levels of PFAS in precipitation do not pose a threat through skin contact, and the greater concern is from drinking water that has not been treated to remove the chemicals. In addition, PFAS is contaminating soil and water sources all of the globe, and prolonged, repeated exposure from multiple sources is a known risk for many diseases and health conditions.
Transcription
David Fair: This is 89 one WEMU, and on this week's edition of Issues of the Environment, we're going to return the conversation to PFAS. Now, these are referred to as "forever chemicals" because they simply don't break down. And they're not only harmful to the environment and our ecosystems. They're destructive to human health. The Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center recently funded a study, and it discovered PFAS in the rainwater falling over Ann Arbor and southeast Michigan. And one would surmise, if it's in rainwater here, it may be in rainwater just about everywhere. But rather than guess, we're going to talk with an expert. Erica Bloom is the toxics campaign director at the Ecology Center. And thank you so much for being here today, Erica! I appreciate it!
Erica Bloom: Right! Thank you for having me!
David Fair: Well, as soon as I heard about the study and some of its findings, a kind of a light went off for me. And it makes perfect sense. But for some reason, up until that point, I was locked in on PFAS contamination simply in the waters, on the ground and in our land. But, of course, it has to be in the air. What prompted the study of rainfall in our region?
Erica Bloom: That's a great question. A lot of research has focused around PFAS in drinking water and surface water, like lakes and rivers. This particular project was prompted through a network that the Ecology Center co-founded called the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network. And that network is a coalition of people who have been impacted by people from their communities. And they're really united around policy change and resourcing communities. And a couple of our community members who live in Southeast Michigan and were in industrial areas, they really came to us and said, "There's a lot of research on PFAS in water, and we're concerned about what's happening if there's PFAS in the air in our communities." So, we took those questions to heart, and we did a small study with those community members to figure out if there was PFAS from the air.
David Fair: And in examining the collected rainfall you did find PFAS in the in the water. What levels did you find the concentrations?
Erica Bloom: So we did samples from Dearborn, Detroit, Ann Arbor, and we also worked in Flint. All three of those rainwater samples contained PFAS. And I want to be clear to you that we did collect rain in order to test PFAS in the air, because rainwater can deposit certain chemicals from the air. So, it was an easy way for us to be able to do those samples. But we found PFAS in all three. And the highest levels were in Dearborn. And I want to also talk about a particular type of PFAS that that we were really clear that we wanted to look at.
David Fair: Yeah. There are so many different kinds and classifications of PFAS. So, what was the primary finding?
Erica Bloom: Yeah. And there is. PFAS is a class of thousands of chemicals. And a lot of times, we don't actually look for a particular chemical that shows up in the air. And this one is TFA, and that stands for trifluoroacetate acid. And that PFAS, like I said, it shows up in the air. It's a breakdown product of common refrigerants, and it travels long distances, but it's not regulated. And so, we were really concerned about that particular chemical. And so, we found really high levels of that chemical in Ann Arbor and Dearborn. But when we just look at PFAS without that particular chemical, Detroit and Dearborn really stand out as having a more than double the amount of PFAS in rain than Ann Arbor. And this result may reflect a greater number of industrial sources of PFAS in Detroit and Dearborn. But, again, this study was a small sample, and we really believe that more research is needed to look at PFAS in the air around Michigan and these industrial areas too.
David Fair: WEMU's Issues of the Environment conversation with Erica Bloom continues. She is toxics campaign director at the Ecology Center in Ann Arbor. So, you mentioned this particular: TFA. What is most concerning about that particular PFAS?
Erica Bloom: You know, other countries have done some research about this particular chemical, and there's been shown to have reproductive and human developmental harms from exposure. And really, when we look at PFAS, again, it's a class of thousands of chemicals. And many chemicals that have been researched and the few that are regulated have been shown to cause certain or be linked to certain types of cancers, reproductive harm, thyroid cancer. So, we were just very concerned that there are many, many more PFAS out there that haven't been studied as much. And again, only a few are regulated.
David Fair: As we look at PFAS as an air pollutant, as we make our way through the days, do we have to be concerned about absorbing it through the skin, like perhaps coming in contact with the PFAS-contaminated foam we've seen on the Huron River and elsewhere?
Erica Bloom: You know, it's a good question, I think, because PFAS is so ubiquitous, it's really everywhere. And so, it's not that we can avoid it. Every time we step out, I wouldn't tell people to just stop going in the rain. But what I can say is that we are exposed to it in so many different parts of our lives, in our products, in contaminated water, fish and the foam, that we just really need to have a more understanding of how these chemicals are moving through our environment and through our bodies and really look at how we can prevent and eliminate these chemicals in our society.
David Fair: Well, once again, we're talking with the Ecology Center's Erica Bloom on 89 one WEMU's Issues of the Environment. Erica, identifying the problem--it's one thing. Solving it--quite another. So, what are we lacking in addressing PFAS contamination throughout our environment?
Erica Bloom: Well, Michigan has identified over 280 contaminated sites in our state. And they have done a good job looking for PFAS and remediating and looking at really areas that have been more heavily contaminated. PFAS in the air and rainwater is something, again, we need to continue studying. It's harder to figure out how to stop that. The solution is policy change and companies moving away from manufacturing products with PFAS and really innovating towards better alternatives--making safer products that don't contain these toxic chemicals. And the Ecology Center and the Great Lakes PFAS Action Network--we're supporting bills introduced in the Michigan Legislature around banning PFAS in products like furniture, personal care products, firefighting foam. These are really important policies because it's really hard to clean this stuff up. And we need more policies that are preventative in nature. We need our lawmakers to really take this issue seriously and pass strong laws to better protect our health and the environment. And we need companies really to take a stand and say, "We're going to look for safer alternatives."
David Fair: And it seems unlikely the latter will act until such time the former enacts those kinds of regulations and more stringent oversight, right?
Erica Bloom: Yeah. It's really, again, policy can move the market. But the market can also move policy. So, I think both are very important for that to have happen. And that's a big part of what the Ecology Center does and what communities that we're working with. They're really focusing on what they can do in our local communities and how they can be advocates for change throughout the state.
David Fair: Erica, you mentioned that this was a very small kind of study with a very small sample size. So, now that you have detected that there is PFAS in rainwater, what will be the next step in this particular research moving forward?
Erica Bloom: Yeah, we actually looked at some other research coming out of the College of Wooster in northern Ohio, and we've been continuing to talk with them about some of their peer-reviewed studies that they found to be PFAS in rainwater and have been continuing to do more research. So, we plan to keep going with this, and we would like to work with more academic partners and encourage the state of Michigan to do more PFAS in rain sampling. We want to work more with community members who have been questioning PFAS in their water and their soil. We're really ready to partner. That's something we do a lot. And we think that that's some of the most important work is building trusted relationships in communities and really responding to what community members want to be tested and what they want to see monitored.
David Fair: I'm just curious. As we start to wrap up our conversation today, Erica. So much research provides us the knowledge and the direction to move forward in positive ways. But it seems like every time we enact or undertake a research project, we find bad news. Does that get rather distressing from your point of view?
Erica Bloom: Yeah. You know, it's something that I think it's so important to understand what's happening to our environment. Because the more research and data that we have, the more we can use that to push policy and to make changes and to really have the scientific evidence to be able to do something. So, I know it can be a lot. It can be overwhelming around PFAS and all kinds of environmental issues. But we can't turn away from that. We must understand what the issues are with our research and really use the research to make good policy. That's why we do this work.
David Fair: Well, thank you for taking the time and sharing your knowledge today. Erica! It's much appreciated!
Erica Bloom: Well, thank you so much for having me!
David Fair: That is Erica Bloom, toxics campaign director at the Ann Arbor-based Ecology Center and our guest on Issues of the Environment. For more information, pay a visit to our website at wemu.org. We'll get you all linked up. Issues of the Environment is produced with support from the Office of the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commission. And you hear it every Wednesday. I'm David Fair, and this is your community NPR station, 89 one WEMU FM Ypsilanti.
Non-commercial, fact based reporting is made possible by your financial support. Make your donation to WEMU today to keep your community NPR station thriving.
Like 89.1 WEMU on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
Contact WEMU News at 734.487.3363 or email us at studio@wemu.org
