Grantee Research Project Results
Building Resilience to PFAS Exposure on Vulnerable Coastal Communities Prone to Extreme Weather Floods: Brevard County FL as a Case Study
EPA Grant Number: R840045Title: Building Resilience to PFAS Exposure on Vulnerable Coastal Communities Prone to Extreme Weather Floods: Brevard County FL as a Case Study
Investigators: Quiñones, Katherine Deliz
Institution: University of Florida
EPA Project Officer: Aja, Hayley
Project Period: August 1, 2020 through May 6, 2025
Project Amount: $798,193
RFA: Contaminated Sites, Natural Disasters, Changing Environmental Conditions and Vulnerable Communities: Research to Build Resilience (2019) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Endocrine Disruptors , Safer Chemicals , Sustainable and Healthy Communities
Objective:
Project objectives are to (1) identify exposure pathways of PFAS in Brevard County vulnerable communities, (2) characterize diversity and concentration ranges of PFAS in environmental and biological media before and after flooding events, and (3) understand the effect of major flood events on the mobility and risk exposure of PFAS with the goal to build community resilience. We hypothesize PFAS concentrations will vary spatially and temporarily as a function of species, distance from their source, seasonality and weather conditions, and that human exposure to PFAS will increase as a function of individual’s activities and the degree of flooding.
Approach:
The proposed approach to understand how flooding, caused by extreme weather events in Florida, influence phase distribution and environmental transport of PFAS, and how specific societal factors can exacerbate impacts of PFAS exposure to communities include determining the (i) diversity and concentration of PFAS in soil, sediment, surface water, groundwater, drinking water and biological media through advanced target analysis (> 50 PFAS compounds) and complementary novel nontargeted analysis with an open-source processing software (FluoroMatch), (ii) sorption, desorption and partition coefficient of selected PFAS through column and batch experiments under changing conditions of pH, salinity and dissolved organic matter, and (iii) transport of PFAS and their risk exposure through a holistic systems-based model which considers natural (fate and concentration of PFAS) social (information gathered through community engagement) and built environments.
Expected Results:
Expected Results include (i) a library of PFAS characterized in this study; (ii) a comprehensive data set of targeted and non-targeted PFAS diversity and concentration ranges in soil, sediment, surface water, groundwater, drinking water, and biological media in Brevard County, FL; (iii) data on sorption, desorption and partition coefficient of selected PFAS under varying environmental conditions; and (c) a validated transport and exposure risk model for PFAS following flooding events in Brevard County, FL that will improve risk assessment and management in vulnerable communities.
Publications and Presentations:
Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 10 publications for this projectJournal Articles:
Journal Articles have been submitted on this project: View all 10 journal articles for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
resilience, vulnerable communities, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), fate and transport, modelingProgress and Final Reports:
The perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.