Skip to Main Content

Purdue scientist awarded $1.6 million from EPA to study PFAS in rural waters

Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have long been used to make products like stain-resistant carpets and clothing, water-proofing textiles, grease- and water-resistant packing, and stick-free pots and pans. That also means they accumulate in human bodies, and there’s evidence that they can be harmful for our health.

Linda Lee
Linda Lee

Wastewater treatment plants serve as conduits of our wastes, thus PFAS can be found in treated sludges used as fertilizers on farms as well as treated wastewater used in irrigation. Linda Lee, a Purdue professor of agronomy, received a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to understand the ways in which these agricultural applications may affect surface and ground waters that feed rural drinking wells in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Virginia. With other partners, including Virginia’s Hampton Roads Sanitation District, Lee’s team will get more than $2.3 million for the research.

“We apply biosolids to our farmland because they’re very valuable. Plants grow better when you apply biosolids, but they also contain PFAS,” Lee said. “Right now, there’s a knowledge gap there. We don’t know if these PFAS are getting into rural water supplies and, if so, at what levels and what might be the primary transport pathways.”

Lee’s study will evaluate the levels of PFAS in land-applied biosolids; the fate, transport and crop uptake of PFAS; the levels of PFAS in local rural water supplies; and the ways in which climate, landscape and hydrology affect PFAS movement and distribution.

“EPA’s funding of this research will not only benefit our rural communities but will also provide valuable insight to our agricultural producers,” said Karen Plaut, the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture at Purdue University. “This grant allows us to collaborate with research partners across multiple states to increase the potential impact.”

A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study shows that PFAS are present in 98% of Americans’ blood. Other research has linked some PFAS to increased levels of cholesterol, low infant birth weights, thyroid and immune system problems, and cancer.

This grant comes less than a year after Lee secured a $900,000 EPA grant to find ways to reduce the level of PFAS in drinking water by capturing or remediating them before they leave wastewater treatment plants.

Featured Stories

The walnut plantation at Martell Forest.
Detection & Prediction: How technology is fighting a future of tree diseases and invasive insects

The black walnut tree (Juglans nigra), prized for its rich, dark color in hardwood furniture and...

Read More
Bees on a honey comb
Research team explores genomic options to enhance honeybee resilience

Beekeepers lose between 30% and 40% of their colonies annually, mostly to parasites and...

Read More
Bello-Bravo, Pittendrigh and Medendorp (right) met with Maximo Torero (second from right), chief economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, at the World Food Forum in Rome
Book offers on-the-ground lessons in international development

A new book by a Purdue team that is impacting extension around the world is designed to help...

Read More
Purdue College of Agriculture.
Farmer sentiment improves, producers credit stronger financial conditions

Agricultural producers’ sentiment increased for the second consecutive month, as the Purdue...

Read More
Students gather at Purdue Summer Science Program on campus at Purdue
Donation takes Summer Science Program to the next level

If you’re on Purdue’s campus in the summer, you may notice a group of students...

Read More
Mary Strickland
Mary Strickland - Graduate Ag Research Spotlight

Mary Strickland is a lifelong animal lover — so much so that she admits to occasionally...

Read More
To Top