Predictions of groundwater PFAS occurrence at drinking water supply depths in the United States

Science. 2024 Nov 15;386(6723):748-755. doi: 10.1126/science.ado6638. Epub 2024 Oct 24.

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known colloquially as "forever chemicals," have been associated with adverse human health effects and have contaminated drinking water supplies across the United States owing to their long-term and widespread use. People in the United States may unknowingly be drinking water that contains PFAS because of a lack of systematic analysis, particularly in domestic water supplies. We present an extreme gradient-boosting model for predicting the occurrence of PFAS in groundwater at the depths of drinking water supply for the conterminous United States. Our model results indicate that 71 million to 95 million people in the conterminous United States potentially rely on groundwater with detectable concentrations of PFAS for their drinking water supplies before any treatment.

MeSH terms

  • Drinking Water* / analysis
  • Drinking Water* / chemistry
  • Fluorocarbons* / analysis
  • Groundwater* / analysis
  • Groundwater* / chemistry
  • Humans
  • United States
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis
  • Water Supply*

Substances

  • Drinking Water
  • Fluorocarbons
  • Water Pollutants, Chemical