The US Department of War (DOW) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are transitioning away from aqueous film-forming foams (AFFFs) that have high concentrations of PFAS in favor of fluorine-free firefighting (F3) foams. Despite the increasing availability of the new F3 foams on DOW’s Qualified Product List (QPL), the transition may not be as easy as it sounds.
“Transitioning to F3 foam is far more complicated that just cleaning fire trucks,” says Jill Greene, AFFF decontamination lead at CDM Smith.
The federal maximum contaminant levels for PFAS call for extremely low environmental and drinking water levels, measured in the parts-per-trillion. That means an increased likelihood of aggressive remediation of PFAS in response to discharges of AFFF to the environment, down to an almost non-detectable level.
