A Comprehensive Look at PFAS Contamination in Queens
- Published:
- Updated: January 20, 2025
Summary
PFAS contamination in Queens poses serious environmental and health risks. These resilient chemicals, used extensively in various industries, have led to widespread contamination affecting air, soil, and water. Queens’ industrial history, especially its airports, has contributed significantly to this issue.
- Sources: Industrial sites, airports, wastewater treatment plants.
- Health Effects: Cancer, immune impairment, hormonal disruption, lower fertility.
- Solutions: Stricter regulations, research for alternatives, effective removal methods, public education.
Summary: In the battle for the wellbeing of the planet and the community, knowledge wins. For that purpose, we must be ever-alert about what lies ahead – chemicals that we already have around us and are so robust and persistent: the per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. These chemicals, while useful in many industries due to their heat, water and oil resistance, have serious and troubling disadvantages. Queens, an urban New York City borough, hasn’t been immune from these chemicals’ ecological and medical effects.
Understanding PFAS
PFAS are chemicals that have been manufactured since the mid-20th century. They’re everywhere in consumer products, from nonstick pots and water-repellent clothes to a few firefighting fluids. They were extremely heat, water and oil resistant and thus in high demand. Yet this endurance comes with a price. It also means these chemicals are hard to disintegrate in the environment or in the body, hence the term ‘forever chemicals’.
Over the years, we have been systematically poisoning the planet with these chemicals. PFAS is released by industry emissions and use, where it can end up in our air, soil and water. They can build up in our bodies over time and if left to their own devices, they can cause a whole range of diseases from some cancers to fertility problems to developmental problems in children.
History of PFAS Use in Queens
Queens was once a very industrial area. From aviation to electronics, even food packaging, industries have developed here. For the purpose of manufacturing, these industries have heavily utilised PFAS due to their properties. And the ravages of this dependence are already manifesting in the environmental pollution.
Let’s see why in the context of the aviation sector. Two of the busiest airports in the world are located in Queens: John F Kennedy International and LaGuardia. PFAS found in firefighting foams for training and emergencies at these airports are leaching into ground and surface water. That’s not the only way PFAS have entered Queens’ ecosystem.
Tracing the Origins of Contamination
PFAS contamination sources can be hard to pinpoint because they are used in so many different industries. But through a lot of digging and testing, some likely sources have emerged in Queens.
The major Queens industries: the textile, paper and packaging, and fire services industries all used PFAS. The biggest culprits are especially sewage treatment plants and landfills, where PFAS products settle. These chemicals can seep up into the soil from these places, get into the water table and enter our drinking water.
Testing and Discovering Contamination
It’s not so easy to identify PFAS in the environment. This means sourcing samples from soil, water and air, and analysing those samples in a laboratory. Such chemicals are usually identified and measured using sophisticated methods such as liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry.
There are multiple tests conducted in Queens that have found PFAS in alarming amounts in some locations. At risk are neighbourhoods that surround factories, wastewater treatment plants and airports. These tests, alas, have not just established PFAS as present but, more worryingly, have established concentrations far beyond safety thresholds defined by health and environmental regulators.
What is the impact on local water sources?
Water is the lifeblood of any society. It is essential for life, but it’s also absolutely necessary. PFAS contamination of Queens water sources is worrisome. Not only are these chemicals in the water, they’re also in quantities that are critically dangerous to public health and the environment.
There was contamination in wells, streams and ponds. Nor is this pollution confined to rivers around factories. Because PFAS are durable and permeable, they reach the most distant of regions as well.
Effects on Public Health
The potential health impacts of PFAS are frightening. These chemicals can build up in the body over time, potentially causing a range of health issues. Here are some of the health effects associated with PFAS exposure:
- Certain types of cancer, such as kidney and testicular cancer
- Impaired immune function, which can make the body more susceptible to diseases
- Hormonal disruption, affecting the body’s natural hormonal balance
- Lower fertility rates, which could affect the population’s growth
In Queens, anecdotal evidence and some preliminary studies suggest a possible link between PFAS exposure and these health problems. However, more research is needed to establish definitive connections.
Policy and Regulation
It is not an easy job to clean up PFAS contamination. It needs a triple approach, which involves scientific research, public policy and regulation. At the federal level, the EPA has issued health warnings for two PFAS compounds, but regulation is a murky business.
The state and city of Queens are already trying to regulate PFAS. For example, the production of fire fighting foams with PFAS was restricted, and water sources were monitored and reduced in PFAS levels. But these efforts aren’t the beginning of the end.
Future Solutions and Preventive Measures
In the future, we need real answers and prevention now more than ever. The following processes could be key to the removal of PFAS contamination:
Implementing tougher PFAS use and disposal policies.
Investment in research for safer alternatives to PFAS.
More efficient methods of removing PFAS from the air.
Public education on PFAS and how to limit exposures.
Remediation work is happening in Queens, but it’s far from complete. It’s going to be a long way to go before we have an entirely PFAS-free future, but it is very likely within reach, given the right effort and will.
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