Identifying Ontario groundwater PFAS sources as a threat to Laurentian Great Lakes.

Since their creation, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used in a wide breadth of industrial and commercial processes from highly specialized applications to more general usage scenarios. Despite the well-known nature of PFAS applications within specific industrial sectors, little is known about the number of facilities that may have acted or be acting as point sources for PFAS released to the environment. This research seeks to provide an estimate for the number of potential PFAS point sources in Ontario. Of the 40 industrial sectors identified, six have been evaluated to provide estimates and will be presented (landfills, wastewater treatment plants, automotive manufacturing, metalworks facilities, fuel and distribution sites, paper manufacturing). Estimates were obtained using decision tree frameworks developed for each individual industry. In total, over 3200 individual facilities were identified as possible PFAS point sources. 1482 individual sites were concluded to be likely point sources of PFAS and a further 1734 sites were considered as possible point sources. This presentation will cover the methodology used, showcase the current/resulting GIS and give a general overview of the 543 facilities identified as possible PFAS sources within 10 km of the Great Lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]