{"id":114981,"date":"2019-11-05T16:58:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T16:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2019\/11\/05\/is-this-the-solution-to-contaminated-water-on-military-bases\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T13:41:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T13:41:35","slug":"is-this-the-solution-to-contaminated-water-on-military-bases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2019\/11\/05\/is-this-the-solution-to-contaminated-water-on-military-bases\/","title":{"rendered":"Is this the solution to contaminated water on military bases?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As a Pentagon task force<\/a> works to come up with a plan to address cancer-linked chemicals<\/a> in ground water on its bases, a group of civilian researchers is exploring a high-tech solution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Enhanced Contact Plasma Reactor made its debut in September at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base<\/a>, Ohio, according to a Tuesday release from the Air Force, in a field demonstration of its ability to break down per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are trying to destroy or degrade PFAS impacted groundwater using electrical discharge plasma,\u201d principal investigator Selma Mededovic, of Clarkson University, said in the release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea is that argon gas from the reactor concentrates perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid, known as PFOS and PFOA, generating plasma at the surface. The plasma then breaks down the PFAS molecules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This is the only technology that actually destroys PFAS molecules that has been demonstrated at this scale, it doesn\u2019t just remove them from water,\u201d co-principal investigator Tom Holsen said in the release. \u201cAll of the other demonstrations that we\u2019re aware of remove it from the water through filtration so there is still a PFAS-containing waste. Our method actually destroys PFAS.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the course of two weeks, contracted researchers from Clarkson and GSI Environmental pulled hundreds of gallons of groundwater, running the reactor with different time periods and amounts of water to find the best settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether the reactor can be scaled across the military remains to be seen, according to the release, as the researchers evaluate the treated water samples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The chemicals, found in everything from fabric, carpet, cookware and food packaging, are of particular concern on military bases, where they are a key ingredient in the fire-fighting foam used to put out blazes after an aircraft or vehicle incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though the services no longer use the foam in training, where it was most commonly deployed for decades, the compounds do not break down, and so risk building up not only in groundwater, but in the human body.<\/p>\n\n\n\t