PFAS Sampling For Environmental Professionals

Continuing Education Credits:

This course was previously offered by RISEP on June 17, 2019. This is the first offering by EPOC. The CT State Board of Examiners of Environmental Professionals (LEP Board) has approved this course for 8.0 hours of continuing education credits  (CTLEP-484). The MA LSP Board has approved this course for 8.0 hours of Technical credits (LSP Course Number: 1670). 

Time and Location:

This seminar will be held on Friday, November 8, 2019 and runs from 8:30 AM - 5 PM at the CTCPA Education Center, 716 Brook St., Ste. 100, Rocky Hill, CT. There will be a 1/2 hour lunch (provided). For directions, see: http://www.ctcpas.org/Content/About/Driving-Directions.aspx

Instructors (see bios below):

• Elizabeth Denly, PFAS Program Director, TRC
• Jim Occhialini, Vice President of Technical Sales, Alpha Analytical
• Dr. Rainer Lohmann, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island
• Gary Hunt, Vice President and Principal Scientist, National Air Measurements Practice, TRC
• Dr. Mark Benotti, Senior Environmental Chemist, Newfields
• Steve LaRosa, Team Leader/Senior Program Manager, Weston & Sampson

Course Fees:

EPOC Members: $300, Non-members: $350, Gov't Employee/Students :$150
Continental breakfast, lunch, and PM snack included.

Course Overview:

The objective of this course is to inform environmental professionals about the particular difficulties and nuances involved in the sampling of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in environmental media.

The course will examine issues encountered with sampling for PFAS in environmental media, particularly soil and groundwater, including, but not limited to::

• The ubiquity of PFAS in commonly used field sampling equipment such as field notebooks and aluminum foil;
• The tendency of PFAS to partition in environmental media, particularly in water samples where the PFAS aggregate at the air-water interface;
• The ubiquity of PFAS in fabrics used in clothing, motor vehicle upholstery, furniture and carpeting, to provide stain resistance; and,
• The very low concentrations being proposed as regulatory criteria, e.g. 14-70 ng/L (parts per trillion; ppt).

These issues combine to make the representative sampling of environmental media more difficult than for more traditional contaminants such as petroleum hydrocarbons, halogenated compounds and metals, in particular preventing cross-contamination of samples resulting in false-positive detections.  This means that traditional sampling methods must be modified and alternative equipment used, as well as having the environmental professionals performing the sampling and handling the samples aware of these issues and adjusting their procedures accordingly.  In addition, PFAS analytical methods are evolving rapidly.

Because of the concern regarding the uncertain potential human health effects of PFAS exposure, at concentrations an order of magnitude or more lower than most common contaminants (ppt) and the lack of current regulatory standards for environmental media, environmental professionals, including LEPs, are uncertain about their duty to sample, or how to interpret their results.  There are potential legal liability issues, both with sampling and not sampling, in particular their obligations under the Professional Responsibility requirements of the LEP Board’s Rules of Professional Conduct at RCSA Sec. 22a-133v-6.

This course was developed for environmental professionals, including, but not limited to, Connecticut LEPs. It will provide information on the issues regarding sampling, sample handling and analysis. It will include an overview of PFAS chemical properties as it relates to the issues in sampling and sample preservation and handling, as well as detailed discussion of the special sampling and handling techniques required for investigating PFAS in environmental media.  It will present a case study on the sampling techniques and practices used in the sampling of drinking water sources performed by Weston & Sampson for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) and present the findings of a combined TRC /Alpha Analytical study on PFAS presence in common environmental sampling equipment.  It will also discuss analytical methods for PFAS and special sample preservation and handling techniques and the potential legal issues that environmental professionals face when deciding whether or not to perform sampling for PFAS.

This course has been developed to answer the following questions:

1. Why do environmental professionals need to know about PFAS sampling?
2. What are PFAS and what are their characteristic properties (chemistry and toxicology)?
3. Where are PFAS found, both historically and currently?
4. How do environmental professionals identify PFAS-containing materials?
5. What changes need to be made to sampling protocols and procedures when sampling for PFAS?
6. How can environmental professionals best assure that they are obtaining representative and accurate PFAS data? 

Much of the course will be topical presentations along with slides and examples, and there will be opportunities for questions and answers throughout. 

Course Agenda:

For detailed course agenda, click here (PDF file).

Instructor Bios:  

Elizabeth Denly is a Director in the Technical Development Unit and the PFAS Program Director in the Environmental Sector at TRC. She is a chemist with 29 years of consulting experience encompassing field and laboratory analyses and audits, QA/QC, data validation, and consulting for regulatory agencies. Ms. Denly has extensive experience with PFAS sampling and was a principal investigator in the TRC/Alpha investigation of PFAS contents of common laboratory sampling equipment. Ms. Denly is a leader in the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC) PFAS Team and in TRC’s Center of Research & Expertise (CORE) Emerging Contaminants Team. Ms. Denly served as a co-leader on the development of the Naming Conventions & Physical/Chemical Properties fact sheet for the ITRC PFAS team and won the 2017 ITRC Industry Affiliates Program Award for her contributions to the ITRC PFAS team. She is currently focusing much of her work on PFAS, specifically the nomenclature, chemistry, sampling procedures, QA/QC, and laboratory analytical methodologies, and has a significant role in educating clients, attorneys, and regulators about PFAS.

Jim Occhialini is a vice president with Alpha Analytical and he serves as the product line manager for the laboratory’s specialty analytical services project applications.  Jim has 40 years of environmental analytical and consulting experience working on a wide range of projects, including Alpha’s collaboration with TRC on PFAS in common sampling equipment.   Jim is very active with a number of regulatory workgroups and industry associations where he has given numerous technical presentations and training programs.

Dr. Ranier Lohmann is an associate professor with the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography and has her undergraduate degree in Biochemistry, master’s in Chemical Engineering and doctorate in Environmental Science.  Dr. Lohmann’s research on the presence and effects of PFAS in the aquatic environment led to the development of an innovative passive sampling technology that is particularly effective at assessing PFAS concentrations at the very low levels presenting human and environmental health risk.

Gary Hunt is a Vice-President and Principal Scientist within TRC’s National Air Measurements Practice in their Lowell, MA office. He has a BS in Chemistry from Villanova University and an MS in Environmental Sciences from Rutgers University.  His 40 year career has focused on the characterization, quantification and control of toxic pollutant emissions from a variety of industrial sources, as well as their transport, fate and measurement in the environment.  He has expertise in the distribution, occurrences, transport and fate of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), including PFAS in the environment, particularly in air.

Dr. Mark Benotti  is a Senior Environmental Chemist with NewFields and holds a B.A. in Chemistry from the College of the Holy Cross and a Ph.D. in Coastal Oceanography from Stony Brook University.  He has more than 15 years of experience with projects related to understanding the chemical impacts of anthropogenic compounds in aquatic environments and contaminated sediment sites.  Dr. Benotti’s work focuses on the occurrence, fate/transport, and source attribution of contaminants, including PFAS.  He has worked on large- and small-scale PFAS-related projects, helping industrial and government clients understand sources and impacts of PFAS contamination in a variety of environments. 

Steve LaRosa is Team Leader/Senior Project Manager with Weston & Sampson and is currently managing PFAS related projects.  He is a leading member of Weston & Sampson’s Emerging Contaminants Work Group and is a member of the national ITRC PFAS Training Subgroup. In particular, Steve has designed and overseen the implementation of sampling and evaluation of PFAS sources and impacts to drinking water wells in Bennington and Pownal Vermont, Burrillville, Scituate and Charlestown Rhode Island, and several sites in New Hampshire.