PFAS Sampling & Treatment: Why Planning Matters

PFAS sampling and treatment decisions can carry substantial financial, regulatory, and operational consequences. Without a defined sampling strategy, appropriate analytical methods, and a plan for managing treatment residuals, organizations risk making decisions based on incomplete or unreliable information.

Andrea Stewart Sr. Environmental Project Manager, PFAS APTIM | Remediation & Technical Solutions Email

Why PFAS Sampling Requires a Defined Plan

Imagine a field technician receives a last-minute call to collect a soil sample. Already on-site, he uses a clean, unused cup from his truck to scoop soil from a stockpile. While putting on gloves, he transfers sunscreen from his hands onto them.

Was the cup suitable for sampling? Could residue from the cup or his hands have affected the sample? Does the sample represent the stockpile? Was its location documented?

Although exaggerated, the scenario demonstrates why sampling procedures matter. Before investing in laboratory analysis or making management decisions, organizations need confidence that samples represent the conditions being evaluated.

PFAS sampling and analysis can present challenges that differ from traditional environmental sampling. These considerations apply across groundwater, wastewater, landfill leachate, soil, biosolids, and treatment residuals.

Establish Clear PFAS Sampling Objectives

Every PFAS sampling program should begin with a defined objective. The intended use of the data determines sampling locations, analytical methods, and how results inform decisions.

Objectives may include identifying PFAS sources, evaluating off-site migration, measuring treatment performance, or characterizing contaminated soil and spent treatment media.

Treatment evaluations may require samples before and after treatment, accounting for operating conditions and water travel time. Source investigations require site history, sampling locations, and an understanding of water movement. Waste-stream evaluations require data that informs material management.

Defining objectives before mobilization helps align sampling costs and analytical requirements with project needs.

Develop Practical Field Sampling Procedures

A sampling plan identifies locations, equipment, containers, cross-contamination precautions, sample handling, preservation, shipping requirements, and quality-control samples.

Field teams must understand how to respond when conditions differ from the plan.

Field records document what occurred, while chain-of-custody records track sample possession. However, documentation cannot correct an unsuitable container or make an unrepresentative sample reliable.

Field precautions must also be practical. Procedures should address applying personal products away from sampling materials, washing hands, and using fresh gloves. Clothing, sunscreen, and personal protective equipment (PPE) should be evaluated for potential PFAS contamination, consistent with applicable sampling protocols.

Addressing these considerations before mobilization can reduce compromised samples and repeat fieldwork.

Coordinate PFAS Analytical Methods With the Laboratory

Planning should confirm analytical methods, target compounds, reporting limits, containers, sample quantities, preservation, and holding times. Different environmental media can present different analytical needs.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 1633A measures 40 PFAS compounds in several environmental media, including wastewater, groundwater, soil, biosolids, sediment, and landfill leachate. EPA recommends it for individual National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits, but applicable permit and project requirements must be checked.

Laboratory reporting limits must support project objectives. A "not detected" result may leave questions unanswered if the reporting limit exceeds the concentration relevant to the decision.

Interpret PFAS Sampling Results in Operational Context

Detected concentrations must be considered alongside site conditions when samples were collected.

Had it recently rained? Was the facility operating normally? Was the treatment system running at its usual flow? Had treatment media recently been changed?

A single sampling event may provide useful information, but it may not fully characterize conditions. Evaluations may require comparisons across locations, process streams, or sampling events. Changes in methods, locations, or reporting limits must be considered before concluding conditions have improved or worsened.

Detected PFAS compounds may also offer clues about sources and movement, but those findings require consideration alongside site history and other evidence.

The objective is to determine what results establish, where uncertainty remains, and whether additional investigation is warranted.

Evaluate PFAS Treatment Performance & Residuals Management

Many established treatment technologies capture or separate PFAS. Granular activated carbon holds PFAS on carbon, ion exchange captures them on resin, and high-pressure membranes separate them into a concentrated liquid stream. These processes can reduce PFAS in treated water while leaving PFAS in materials requiring management.

Treatment evaluations should consider removal performance under actual operating conditions and resulting residuals, including spent carbon or resin, concentrated liquids, sludge, and backwash.

Plan for PFAS-Containing Residuals Before Treatment Selection

Residuals management should be considered during treatment selection because waste generation, handling requirements, and disposal options influence technical feasibility and life-cycle cost.

Before recommending a system, organizations should evaluate:

Media replacement, transportation, disposal, monitoring, and daily operations can considerably affect overall costs.

EPA's 2026 interim destruction and disposal guidance discusses thermal treatment, landfilling, and underground injection, including limitations and remaining uncertainties. This nonbinding guidance informs evaluations, but each project still requires assessment of the specific waste, available facilities, and applicable requirements.

How APTIM Supports PFAS Sampling, Treatment & Management

Clear findings and actionable recommendations help clients determine appropriate next steps while understanding uncertainties and potential implications.

Those steps may include treatment, source control, additional investigation, continued monitoring, or alternative waste-stream management. Each recommendation should explain the basis for the proposed action and acknowledge remaining uncertainties.

At APTIM, our teams help clients with sampling, analytical interpretation, treatment evaluation, remediation planning, permitting, and long-term monitoring. Operating conditions, residuals management, and long-term costs inform these evaluations because they affect whether an approach will work for the client.

Connect with APTIM's Remediation & Technical Solutions team to evaluate PFAS sampling needs, treatment alternatives, and residuals management considerations before making decisions with long-term operational and financial implications.

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Published October 2026

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