Researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences have received a grant of nearly $309,000 from the U.S. Geological Survey, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior, to study the movement and impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in small agricultural watersheds across the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. The goal of the project, the researchers said, is to help farmers, communities and watershed managers better understand and reduce contamination risks.
Known as "forever chemicals," PFAS can accumulate in soil and water and enter the food chain. Agricultural communities nationwide are increasingly confronting concerns about PFAS contamination, particularly on farms with a history of biosolids application - the agricultural recycling of treated municipal wastewater solids as a fertilizer and soil amendment - or the use of certain fluorinated pesticides, according to Heather Preisendanz, director of the Institute for Sustainable Agricultural, Food, and Environmental Science (SAFES), who will lead the study.
She explained that the interdisciplinary project will investigate how PFAS move through rural agricultural landscapes, evaluate risks to human and ecological health, and identify strategies to reduce contamination in water supplies and surrounding ecosystems.
"This project will provide critical information to farmers, rural communities and watershed managers who are facing difficult questions about PFAS contamination and its long-term impacts," said Preisendanz, professor of agricultural and biological engineering. "By improving our understanding of how these compounds move through agricultural watersheds and affect aquatic ecosystems, we hope to identify practical approaches that can help reduce risks and protect water quality."
Researchers will collect and analyze samples of surface water, streambed sediment and aquatic insects from small agricultural watersheds within the Chesapeake Bay region. The team will compare PFAS transport patterns with other indicators of water quality and stream health, including nutrients and sediment, to better understand how these contaminants move through the environment.
They also will assess how PFAS exposure may affect aquatic macroinvertebrate communities, which are important indicators of stream health. The study includes field and laboratory activities designed to identify dominant PFAS transport pathways and better understand how contaminants accumulate in aquatic organisms. Researchers will evaluate stream health in the watersheds and assess how contaminants in water and sediment could move through and impact aquatic ecosystems.
The findings will contribute to the development of new datasets to improve understanding of contamination sources and transport pathways in rural watersheds, the identification of mitigation and conservation strategies to reduce PFAS contamination and the creation of presentations, reports and publications for scientists, watershed managers, farmers and community members.
"The project will provide both immediate and long-term benefits," Preisendanz said. "Communities within the study watersheds will gain access to locally relevant environmental data, while the broader scientific community and government agencies will benefit from new research findings and guidance for conservation practices aimed at reducing PFAS contamination in soil, groundwater and surface water."
Project collaborators at Penn State include Tyler Groh, assistant research professor and watershed management extension specialist; Faith Kibuye, water resources extension specialist and affiliate faculty in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management; Matt Royer, director of the Agriculture and Environment Center; and Jon Sweetman, assistant research professor of aquatic science, all in the College of Agricultural Sciences; Onur Apul, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering in the College of Engineering; and Odette Mina, director of Energy and Environmental Sustainability Laboratories in the Institute of Energy and the Environment.
