Stop "Forever Chemicals": Protect Water from PFAS

Waterkeeper Alliance has completed Phase II of our PFAS Monitoring Initiative to identify water pollution from municipal wastewater treatment facilities and sludge fields—particularly in underserved communities in the United States. Our project has now reached over 57 million people in 18 states and will culminate with the launch of our 2025 PFAS Report.

Key Achievements:

• 97 PFASsive™ samplers deployed to monitor upstream and downstream locations near wastewater facilities and sludge application fields.

• 40 Waterkeeper staff trained from 23 Waterkeeper groups through technical webinars on PFAS science and sampling.

• 40 PFAS chemicals analyzed using cutting-edge EPA Method 1633.

• 22 wastewater treatment plants and 10 sludge fields prioritized in environmental justice communities.

• Partnership with Hispanic Access Foundation helped identify 8 high-priority sites in Latino communities.

• Spanish and English versions of the Phase II report are being finalized and prepared for public launch.

This project is elevating the voices of communities long left out of environmental decision-making. It empowers local Waterkeeper groups and residents with credible scientific data to confront pollution, and it underscores the importance of holding polluters and policymakers accountable. We're making data public, sharing it with EPA’s national water quality database, and building advocacy momentum in response to a troubling EPA rollback on PFAS regulations announced in May 2025.