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Ben Frech National Ground Water Association Public Relations Manager bfrech@ngwa.org

NGWA’s Scientific Journal Tackles Unique Challenges PFAS Still Poses to Groundwater Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation brings together new research and tools to address widespread contamination

Westerville, Ohio (September 2, 2026) — The National Ground Water Association (NGWA) has released a PFAS-focused special issue of its journal, Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation, bringing together new research on how per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are detected, traced, and treated in groundwater.

In an editorial introducing the issue, "What's Different about PFAS?", authors Mitchell R. Olson, Andrea J.H. Rhoades, J.F. Devlin, and Jeff Hale note that while groundwater professionals have spent decades refining how they manage legacy contaminants, PFAS presents a distinct challenge: a convergence of widespread occurrence, atmospheric transport, complex chemical mixtures, extraordinary persistence, high mobility in groundwater, and low regulatory concentrations, all within a single class of chemicals.

For decades PFAS has been incorporated into hundreds of consumer, commercial, and industrial products, and one study cited in the issue identifies more than 57,000 presumptive PFAS-impacted sites across the United States, spanning industrial, municipal, military, and airport properties.

The 12-article issue spans the full PFAS management continuum:

• Transport and fate: New guidance for applying the HYDRUS vadose-zone model to estimate PFAS mass discharge, plus a benchmark study of Henry's Law constants and vapor pressures for 30 PFAS compounds relevant to vapor intrusion.
• Site characterization: Two studies advancing high-resolution tools for mapping PFAS mass flux in groundwater plumes, including a passive profiling method adapted from chlorinated-solvent monitoring and a segmented horizontal well system.
• Forensics and source identification: A two-part series on identifying PFAS chemical signatures tied to specific source types and using advanced analytical techniques for source attribution.
• Treatment: Three articles evaluating in situ sorption-based approaches, including reactive core matting at a groundwater/surface water interface and a decade of lessons from colloidal activated carbon injection, alongside a field demonstration of high-frequency ultrasonic treatment for PFAS destruction.

"PFAS have been on the radar of the groundwater industry for decades, yet they're still treated as emerging contaminants because the science keeps evolving," said Thad Plumey, NGWA director of publications. “This issue reflects where the research is headed and the new tools that are being developed to support that research."

The issue emphasizes that no single method, model, or technology will resolve the PFAS challenge on its own. Progress will depend on integrating these advances into practical site management decisions.

Groundwater Monitoring & Remediation is a peer-reviewed journal published by NGWA in partnership with Wiley. The Summer 2026 issue is available now through the Wiley Online Library.

NGWA has worked for a decade to promote PFAS research and advocate for the national PFAS standards in drinking water. In 2017, NGWA published the first primary guidance on PFAS and groundwater, Groundwater and PFAS: State of Knowledge and Practice.

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