UCAAP: A Framework for Systematic PFAS Regulation in California’s Impacted Communities
Omanjana Goswami, Alexandra L. Johnson, Zoe Kanavas, Raisa A. Rahim, Richard Tran
Summary
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have both a variety of applications and a negative health effect on humans. California is a leading state in regulating PFAS; gaps persist though, with potentially severe consequences for the health of the state’s residents, especially minoritized communities. We propose that the California Legislator allocate $4M to the University of California’s Special Funds Research Initiative for the creation of a University-Community Alliance to Address PFAS (UCAAP). UCAAP will pair fenceline communities with PFAS researchers from public universities in California to educate community members, study current exposure levels and pilot removal techniques to comprehensively mitigate PFAS effects.
1. Introduction
Chemistry and Applications: PFAS are a ubiquitous class of chemicals. The >1400 variations of PFAS across 200 industries have a wide variety of uses, including nonstick and waterproof coatings (e.g. Teflon pans; Ross 2019) and flame retardants (Laurén n.d.). Exposure can occur through soil, water and food contact (Glüge et al. 2020; Garnett et al. 2021). While the use of PFAS has declined in novel production of manufactured goods, persisting traces have been detected at twice the previous rate within the past decade (Zheng et al. 2021). There is robust research for the adsorption of PFAS, (“Multi-Industry”) currently used in water filtration. While filtration has seen major successes, the efficacy and economic practicality of technologies that degrade PFAS to less dangerous derivatives make these solutions currently impractical (Singh et al. 2019).
Human Health Impacts: Studies show a striking association between PFAS exposure and a wide range of adverse health outcomes (e.g. cancer, reproductive abnormalities, etc.; Rickard et al. 2022). While the harm to adults is inconclusive (Steenland et al. 2022), children are at even greater risk of developing serious side effects (Malits et al. 2018).
Along with factory workers, people living in fenceline communities (those that are adjacent to pollutant-spewing sources) are more likely to be exposed to PFAS (ATSDR). One report shows that these vulnerable populations are more likely to be exposed to PFAS compared to their more advantaged counterparts (Lee et al. 2021). California “is [simultaneously] home to some of the most health protective policies … [and] some of the most alarming health disparities across race and socioeconomic status [in the country]” (Safer States n.d; Figure 1). While 22% more communities of color and 15% more of low income live in close proximity to PFAS sites than would be expected if these factors were not related (Reed 2019), it remains unclear how PFAS exposure is impacting the health of California’s citizens.
2. Current PFAS Policy in California
California is one of twenty states that have either established or proposed PFAS regulations (Paisner 2022). PFAS were recently officially recognized as carcinogens, citing the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act (Proposition 65; CA Water Board). Their addition has been banned in firefighting foam, food packaging, and toys; it requires consumer notifications in carpets. Threshold levels for PFAS have been set in products that are labeled as recyclable (Safer States n.d). California has yet to enact drinking water limits, though the Water Resources Control Board’s (WRCB’s) Drinking Water division has adopted the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) notification and response levels for PFAS contaminants (Brennan et al. 2021), citing a health advisory level of 70 ppt and a Notification Level between 5100 and 6500 ppt for individual PFAS (Federal Register 2022, Water Board 2019). An effort to establish an enforceable maximum contaminant level is currently underway (Cook et al. 2022).
3. Policy Proposal: University-Community Alliance to Address PFAS (UCAAP)
There are opportunities for collaboration between researchers and those most heavily impacted by PFAS to not only address current PFAS pollution, but also to discover new remediation techniques for the betterment of communities. To address the community-level health concerns of PFAS exposure and develop more effective technologies to remove PFAS from water sources, we propose the California Legislator allocate $4M to the University of California’s (UC’s) Special Funds Research Initiative for the creation of a University-Community Alliance to Address PFAS (UCAAP). Based on a previous NSF-funded project (Diallo 2021), this amount is sufficient to fund 3 fundamental PFAS studies and 2 applied pollution clean-up projects. UCAAP will pair fenceline communities with PFAS researchers from public universities in California to (1) educate the community about the impacts of contact with PFAS, (2) study and assess the extent of the community’s exposure and (3) conduct pilot removal projects. UCAAP will focus on fenceline communities because they are the most affected by PFAS contamination (Hu et al. 2016) and are historically underserved (Cushing et al. 2015). We have identified priority counties — including San Joaquin, Kern, and Fresno — for UCAAP by analyzing the overlapping regions found from the GeoTracker PFAS Map and the California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool (OEHHA 2014). The GeoTracker PFAS map compiles PFAS contamination data across the state and CalEnviroScreen identifies communities that are disproportionately burdened by pollution. Many public universities in California are already conducting PFAS research, e.g. UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UC San Francisco, UC Irvine, UC Merced, and UC Riverside. Expanding the focus of these research groups to include community-level impact and improvement will rapidly progress PFAS contamination detection and remediation efforts with equity at the forefront.
Resolving PFAS pollution will require a series of exploratory lab experiments in conjunction with the applied remediation projects, which the UC is well-equipped to execute. Given the UC’s previous successful experience in Valley Fever Research Initiative (Sil et al. 2019), the aforementioned UCs have established PFAS research programs that can be leveraged for fast results. Overall, we recommend incorporating UCAAP to provide comprehensive preventative measures and community awareness of the toxicology and pervasivness of PFAS. Allocating funding for UCAAP from the California Legislature will demonstrate California’s commitment to protecting its vulnerable populations from PFAS.
Bios:
Omanjana Goswami: Omanjana is the Interdisciplinary Scientist at the Food & Environment Program of the Union of Concerned Scientists. Omanjana holds a PhD degree in environmental science from Rutgers University, NJ. Omanjana served as a NOAA Knauss Legislative Fellow (2019–2020) in the office of former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard focusing on issues of pollution, environmental protection and conservation, science and technology.
Alexandra Johnson: Alexandra is a Senior Research Associate at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, focused on indoor air quality. She has previous experience conducting research into contaminants in water. Alexandra holds a BS in chemical engineering and an MPH with a focus in epidemiology and biostatistics. She is active in the science policy community, and currently serves as vice-chair for the western hub of the National Science Policy Network.
Zoe Kanavas: Zoe Kanavas is a Ph.D. Candidate in Water Resources Engineering at the University of California, Davis. Her research focuses on the fundamental physics that drives groundwater flow at extremely small scales, employing computational fluid dynamics, statistical analysis, and machine learning. She holds an M.S. in Water Resources Engineering from the University of California, Davis and a dual B.S. in Geological Engineering and Geophysics from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Zoe is an active member of the National Science Policy Network having completed the SciPol Scholars program and a residency with the Union of Concerned Scientists. In her career, Zoe will use her leadership, collaboration, and innovation skills to build coalitions, strengthen communities, and leverage policy tools to combat environmental injustice across the U.S.
Raisa A. Rahim: Raisa is pursuing a PhD in Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis as a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. In addition to her work in selective attention, Raisa is involved in diversity and equity programming as a committee member of Seminar Outreach for Minority Advocacy. She is deeply passionate about harnessing effective science communication as a means for enhancing community awareness and engagement toward science policy, writing a blog series on environmental justice for Davis Science Says.
Richard Tran: Richard is currently pursuing a PhD in Chemistry at University of California, Davis. Richard is in the inorganic track specializing on metals interact with biological systems and potential applications of those systems. Richard is also very invested in engaging science policy and making sure that science can be integrated in a meaningful and thoughtful manner to our day-to-day government. Science communication plays a vital role in not only the scientific community, but the society at large. Richard is leading the science policy sector for Science Says, a science communication graduate group for people to engage in science communication in many different avenues.
