Although legislation is beginning to limit the use of PFAS in some materials, its current and past use in aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) will continue to be a major source of contamination for many years to come, especially at military bases, airports and fire training facilities. Research has shown that PFAS levels can remain at the same level even 30 years after usage being discontinued.

At a US Military installation in Germany we conducted a detailed investigation in the vicinity of its former firefighting training pit. Fire-fighting drills with AFFF were used in the vicinity over a period of 15 years, and as such, the soil was impacted by PFAS.

Our investigations included over 30 drillings and the installation of four groundwater monitoring wells. We also repeated sampling of existing groundwater wells located about 300 metres north of the training pit, where the highest PFAS concentrations were detected, significantly exceeding the preliminary threshold values allowed in groundwater. The concentrations in soil also exceeded the local regulatory threshold level. The groundwater contamination is primarily a result of the soil impact with the toxins transferred via seepage water into the aquifer.