WC136 MayJune 2024 - Magazine - Page 13
WASTEWATER
PFAS and Canada’s Waste Facilities
Assessing PFAS impact on municipal waste management.
BY GORDON FELLER
UNICIPAL SOLID WASTE (MSW) landfills are a
known source of groundwater contamination via landfill
leachate. Modern Canadian landfills are designed with
groundwater protection systems and contingencies to
address this problem, however, there is currently limited
information available on their long-term reliability.
Following a commitment made in a notice of intent to address
the broad class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, the Government of Canada collected and examined information on PFAS.
The development of guidelines for chemicals in the PFAS family
is an ongoing effort and has recently seen intensified interest from
both citizens and government.
According to Hannah Boonstra, spokesperson at Environment
and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), a draft “State of Per- and
Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Report” proposes to conclude
that PFAS, as a class, may cause harm to both human health and
the environment for the purposes of section 64 of the Canadian
Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). A class management
approach would accelerate action by eliminating substance-by-substance reviews.
M
Getty Images
Gordon Feller
Global Fellow at
The Smithsonian Institution's
Wilson Center. During the past
45 years he's served as Advisor
at the UN's HQ and, later, at
the World Bank HQ. He was
appointed by Obama/Biden
to a US Federal comm. —
focused on innovations in
policy and technologies —
which was established by
The US Congress.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
The presence and concentration
of PFAS in leachate vary based on
a number of factors, including the
age of the landfill, types of wastes
accepted, and operating practices.”
WATER C AN ADA • M AY/JUNE 2024
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