Predictions of groundwater PFAS occurrence at drinking water supply depths in the United States

Science
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Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), known colloquially as “forever chemicals”, have been associated with adverse human health effects and have contaminated drinking water supplies across the United States owing to their long-term and widespread use. People in the United States may unknowingly be drinking water that contains PFAS because of a lack of systematic analysis, particularly in domestic water supplies. We present an extreme gradient boosting model for predicting the occurrence of PFAS in groundwater at the depths of drinking water supply for the conterminous United States. Our model results indicate that 71 to 95 million people in the conterminous United States potentially rely on groundwater with detectable concentrations of PFAS for their drinking-water supplies prior to any treatment.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Predictions of groundwater PFAS occurrence at drinking water supply depths in the United States
Series title Science
DOI 10.1126/science.ado6638
Edition Online First
Year Published 2024
Language English
Publisher Science
Contributing office(s) California Water Science Center, New England Water Science Center, New Jersey Water Science Center, New Mexico Water Science Center, South Atlantic Water Science Center, Lower Mississippi-Gulf Water Science Center, National Water Quality Program
Country United States
Other Geospatial conterminous United States
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