MacRae talks with Bangor Daily about PFAS in landfills and wastewater treatment
Jean MacRae, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at 91福利 and Mitchell Center faculty fellow, recently spoke with the Bangor Daily News about two aspects of Maine鈥檚 ongoing PFAS crisis: 鈥攖he liquid runoff from landfilled waste鈥攁nd in .
MacRae is part of a Mitchell Center team that is researching PFAS in Maine, including the environmental, economic and social aspects of various management options.
Although PFAS can be removed from wastewater, or drinking water, these 鈥渇orever chemicals鈥 are very difficult to break down and must be disposed of.
鈥淭he issues with landfills are big because they鈥檙e really the only way to deal with PFAS contamination once it happens,鈥 MacRae told the BDN. 鈥淲ater can be treated to get PFAS out 鈥 by passing it through an activated carbon charcoal filter. And if you do that, you鈥檒l stick the PFAS to the charcoal, but then you have contaminated charcoal. So where does that go?鈥