By Jan Axelson
Northside News
The Dane County Regional Airport has announced promising early data from a pilot project to convert PFAS chemicals into less dangerous components. PFAS were formerly used in fire-fighting foam at the airport, including at a training site off Darwin Road. Stormwater runoff from the training site continues to pollute Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona and the lakes downstream.
The human body can absorb PFAS through eating, drinking, breathing, and through the skin. Research shows that exposure to PFAS can contribute to health issues such as cancers, high cholesterol, high blood pressure in pregnant women, low infant birth weight, decreased fertility for women, interference with hormones, and reduced response to vaccines.
PFAS, also called “forever chemicals,” persist in the environment due to strong chemical bonds that resist breaking down. But recent research has found that under certain conditions, some microbes found in nature have an ability to break the bonds and degrade PFAS into less harmful substances. The pilot project at the airport is using microbes along with a carbon “sponge” with a honeycomb structure that absorbs contaminants.
The project is a partnership of Verona-based ORIN Technologies, now part of VIYA, and the Canadian company Fixed Earth Innovations. Strong results from earlier research at a testing well led to interest in expanding the project. The work will continue with another round of sampling later this year.
Many questions remain before the process will be approved for use on a larger scale. Still largely unknown are how the microbes break the bonds and whether the process results in byproducts that are harmful in other ways.
The Friends of Starkweather Creek have long been active in monitoring PFAS levels and advocating for cleanup. Co-chair Lance Green stated, “If this pilot method proves as effective as these early results seem to indicate, it should be applied to all of the airport areas polluted with PFAS and relieve our local waters from this serious problem. We look forward to the airport’s providing regular updates detailing actual results of their efforts.”
The airport has provided $1.5 million to fund the project. A portion of the funding is a $500,000 payment to Dane County to remove a building height restriction on the Raemisch farm property just north of Lake View Elementary School. A developer is pursuing approval for residential development on the land. The restriction was due to a proposed airport runway extension that is no longer being considered.
