WEST TRENTON, N.J. – The Delaware River Basin Commission has released new findings showing PFAS contamination remains widespread throughout the Delaware River Basin after more than two decades of monitoring.
The report, part of the commission’s PFAS Water Quality and Fish Tissue Assessment Study, found the so-called “forever chemicals” in surface water, sediment, fish and blue crab tissue collected at 21 sites across the basin. Researchers said PFAS concentrations increased downstream toward the Delaware Bay, suggesting continued pollution from sources such as industrial facilities, wastewater discharges and stormwater runoff.
“Safeguarding water for over 14 million people requires science-informed management actions,” DRBC Executive Director Kristen Bowman Kavanagh said in a statement.
Jeremy Conkle, the commission’s senior chemist and lead author of the study, called the Delaware River Basin a “global hotspot” for PFAS pollution and said the findings show efforts to reduce contamination will require long-term regional coordination.
The commission plans to continue monitoring, particularly in heavily developed tributaries and the tidal Delaware River, to identify contamination sources and track trends over time.
The DRBC will host a public webinar June 15 to discuss the findings and unveil a new interactive map that compiles PFAS contamination data from federal, state and regional agencies throughout the basin.
PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group of thousands of human-made chemicals used in products designed to resist water, oil and heat. They are known as “forever chemicals” because they break down very slowly in the environment.
The Delaware River Basin Commission is a federal-interstate agency created in 1961 by Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and the federal government.
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