Discuss about the PFAS Compounds and Soil Contaminations.
The article seeks to explain the PFAS compounds, soil contaminations as well as the current concerns on the pollutants in Australia. Pollution is the introduction of hazardous materials to the environment and as per the paper; soil pollution is the exposure of harmful substances to the natural soil. Hazardous materials are those waste products which pose a threat to the environments. Soil pollution is involved with a lot of many pollutants which make it lose its natural elements. The problem of contamination has become widespread in Australia, and exceptional measures and concerns have taken place to combat it. The paper does an intensive review of the PFAS compounds as well as soil contamination causes and the steps taken to fight it. Extensive research on journals as well as examples and case studies mark the discussions of the article.
They are human-made chemicals used in industrial matters since the 1950s. Many industries use them for the manufacture of industrial and consumer products. They are found in soil, air or water after the emission of waste products from the trades. They’re historically used in manufacturing non-stick cookware, used in packaging of foods, stain protection, and in some instances in making foams for firefighting. The most dominant types of PFAS are the two sister compound namely; PFOS and PFOA (World Food Regulation Review, 2017) .These elements contain the carbon and fluorine Atom Backbones. All these industrial and consumer uses of PFAS lead to the contamination of underground water and the entire environment (Trainor et al, 2017). They constitute a significant soil pollutant. PFOS and PFOA are both biologically and chemically stable as well as resistant to the typical process of environmental degradation. Those processes include hydrolysis, direct photolysis and atmospheric photo-oxidation (US EPA, 2013).
PFAS compounds were traced and detected in the regions near to Launceston Airport in the year 2016. Researchers and scientists’ research found that the compounds were present as a result of firefighting forms historically used during firefighting practices that were facilitated by a training facility in the airport. The firefighting foams contained the elements of perfluorinated compounds (Lloyd & Senjen, 2016).
The air services investigations used samples from soil, underground water, and surfaces water from locations adjoining the airport near the firefighting training area. The results of the findings were low concentrations of PFASs contained in the samples. Its either indicated that the research done was not to the maximum and recommendations for further investigations made. The intention of the study was to understand the extent of the risk that resulted from the contamination(Lloyd & Senjen, 2016).
Many instances of soil contamination with PFASs in Australia originate from firefighting foams. The Tasmanian Fire Service Training Center situated at Cambridge is believed to have the highest probability and capacity of PFASs contamination. The government of Australia hasn’t fully established the extent of the effects of this pollutant on the people (Lloyd & Senjen, 2016).
In the journal of hazardous materials, a study on the PFASs in landfills leachates conducted by researchers. The sampling of leachate in a total of 27 Australian discharges got taken for the investigation. The study found that the PFASs compounds present in all the landfills despite their ages as well as waste types. The study found that PFHxA had the highest concentration followed by the other four kinds of PFASs. The concentrations of the compounds increased with a decrease in the age of landfill significantly with the rising levels associated with increasing pH as well as TOC (Gallen et al., 2017).
Soil contamination also is known as soil pollution is the presence of toxic chemicals and substances in the soil in high concentrations that may lead to risks to both living things and the ecosystem. Even low levels of soil contaminations are hazardous. Contaminated soil is the static soil that has been exposed to dangerous substances and has stayed for some time with the contaminating components.
Naturally, soils contain contaminants such as metals, organic compounds, as well as inorganic compounds and salts. They are present even when the ground is not contaminated, and formed through decomposition of microorganisms (both plants and animals) and microbial activity. Soil contaminants include, lead (Pb) from sources such as mining, foundry, exhaust from vehicles, and agriculture (Su, 2014).
Secondly, mercury brought about by medical waste, mining, metal processing as well as coal incineration activities. Arsenic (As) also from mining, lumber firms, electronic firms, agricultural businesses, as well as natural accumulation. Lastly, copper is also a renowned pollutant that originates from mining, construction and factory activities.
Heavy metals are the leading pollutants of urban soils as per the current knowledge in Australian urban centers. The community in the country has complained allot and led to the investigation as well as rehabilitation of contaminated soils (He et al., 2015). Anthropogenic sources are the foremost leaders in soil pollution.
An excellent example of soil pollution in Australia is present on the roadsides along the roads in Melbourne have high percentages of heavy metal pollution mainly caused by vehicle exhausts and emissions. High concentrations of these heavy metals lead to long-term damage to the environment.
De Silva et al, (2016), in their research “Metal accumulation in roadside soil in Melbourne, Australia: Effect of road age, traffic density, and vehicular speed”, (p.1), which did an assessment of the relation of traffic features such as traffic jams, speed of vehicles and the age of roads against the heavy metal presence in roadsides got significant findings. High levels of contaminants resulted from the study. Recently introduced metals in the technologies of the automotive industry in the last 25 years got recorded as the high pollutants in the medium and newly constructed roads. Such metals include Mn, Pd, and Sb. In oldest streets, minerals that have a prolonged use in the industry of automotive, such as Cr, Pb, and Zn recorded the high percentage of pollutants.
Stable waste generation is the most significant effect of increased production as well as production in Australia. In the country, solid wastes never re-used, and they majorly end up in managed landfills. The total number of landfills in Australia is approximately1168 in number, and they accommodate around 20 million tones of waste produced each year. The National Wastes Policy in Australia is very strategic on the reduction of waste disposal which consists of hazardous products. All these goals are aimed at meeting the national plan of reducing pollution effects on the environment (University of Western Australia Reports Findings in Environmental Research ,2018).
The National Environment Protection (NEP) led to the Assessment of Site Contamination measure since the year 1999. It has several provisions on how soil contaminations should be handled. The first is an onsite treatment of the soil with the aim of destroying the contaminant or reducing the hazard to an acceptable optimum level. Secondly, offsite therapy of land excavated from a particular location, this depends on the levels of contamination. Once the treatment gets done, the soil is either returned to the site or if the treatment isn’t successful; the soil gets used to fill the landfill (Rate, 2018).
Australia has championed the use of online tracking of contaminated areas where any traces of soil contamination and majorly from PFASs get reported to the relevant authorities. According to studies done in Australia it has been proven that PFAS are harmful to certain species of organisms and that it should be used in situations where there is no any alternative. Soils contaminated with PFAS can be treated to destroy the compounds, and in Australia, companies to work on this issue have their operations started (Trier et al., 2018)
The trending technology currently is proposed by the OPEC systems, which is working hand in hand with the Department of Defense to remove chemicals of PFAS compounds from water. According to the company, its technology can remove up to 99% of the PFASs in a minute.
The current concerns on the Management of PFAS are undergoing in Australia with the PFAs National Environmental Management Plan taking its due course. The plan aims to provide the government with a risk-based, consistent and practical framework to help in the regulation of PFAS sites and materials. The plans outline further work to be completed by the end of the year 2018. It is structured to accommodate the emerging knowledge and research (Trainor, 2017).
Conclusion
PFASs compounds are a significant cause of soil contamination in Australia historically. Milestones of studies have been reached currently to curb the menace. In the country, a more substantial percentage of soil pollution majorly in North South Wales, have originated from the PFASs components. The government of Australia has come up with possible solutions. Firms with the technologies for cleaning the compounds have emerged and commenced the work of cleaning the compounds though it is significantly expensive.
References
Australian Guidance Values for Assessing Exposure to Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA). (2017). World Food Regulation Review,26(11), 3-4
De Silva, S., Ball, A. S., Huynh, T., & Reichman, S. M. (2016). Metal accumulation in roadside soil in Melbourne, Australia: Effect of road age, traffic density and vehicular speed. Environmental Pollution, 208, 102-109.
Gallen, C., Drage, D., Eaglesham, G., Grant, S., Bowman, M., & Mueller, J. (2017). Australia-wide assessment of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in landfill leachates. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 331, 132-141.
He, Z., Shentu, J., Yang, X., Baligar, V. C., Zhang, T., & Stoffella, P. J. (2015). Heavy metal contamination of soils: sources, indicators and assessment.
Lloyd, M., & Senjen, S. D. R. (2016). The Persistence and Toxicity of Perfluorinated Compounds in Australia.
Plant, R., Wilmot, K. and Ege, C. (2014) Contaminated Soil Wastes in Australia. [Prepared for the Australian Department of the Environment]. Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology, Sydney.
Rate, A. (2018). Multielement geochemistry identifies the spatial pattern of soil and sediment contamination in an urban parkland, Western Australia. The Science of the Total Environment, 627, 1106-1120.
Su, C. (2014). A review on heavy metal contamination in the soil worldwide: situation, impact and remediation techniques. Environmental Skeptics and Critics, 3(2), 24.
Trainor, K. (2017, April 03). National guidance for managing PFAS contamination released. Mondaq Business Briefing, p. Mondaq Business Briefing, April 3, 2017
Trier, X., Taxvig, C., Rosenmai, A. K., & Pedersen, G. A. (2018). PFAS in paper and board for food contact: Options for risk management of poly-and perfluorinated substances. Nordic Council of Ministers.
University of Western Australia Reports Findings in Environmental Research. (2018). Ecology, Environment & Conservation, 992.
US EPA 2014, Emerging Contaminants – Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA), Emerging Contaminants Fact Sheet – PFOS and PFOA, March 2014 https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2014- 04/documents/factsheet_contaminant_pfos_pfoa_march2014.pdf (accessed 21 July 2018)
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