Emily Blackburn
School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering
Grantham Scholar
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Understanding Risks of PFAS to Surface Water Abstractions
The project:
Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of manmade chemicals that possess water repellent properties and strong heat resistance. Since their development in the 1930s, PFAS have been implemented in many products and processes from car tires, textile manufacturing, and waterproof paint, to cosmetics, take-out food containers, and plastic production. Since the early 2000s, PFAS have been regarded as environmental contaminants when these chemicals were detected in the environment and mammals.
High PFAS exposure can have negative effects on human health, including increased risk of thyroid disease, kidney cancer, and liver cancer. Regulatory bodies require water companies to maintain low PFAS concentrations in drinking water, however, current treatment methods have varying effectiveness towards PFAS. Removing PFAS from raw water is difficult; hence, when concentrations exceed regulatory limits (above 100 ng/L in the UK), existing water supplies are blended or removed. While UK water companies monitor for 48 specific PFAS, monitoring is slow and costly, limiting the ability to respond quickly to short-term concentration increases.
More effective PFAS management tools are required for water companies to protect raw water abstraction sites from high concentrations of PFAS and reduce the risk of human exposure. This project sets out to develop a data-based tool to improve the management of PFAS in UK surface water. To develop such a tool the project will delve into the distribution of PFAS in surface water across the UK and uncover any catchment, climatic, and environmental characteristics that influence PFAS levels.
Publications:
"Statistical Analysis of PFAS and Catchment Characteristics in the UK" for the CCWI 2025 Conference held in Sheffield, DOI
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