Arizona Publishes Decision Trees for Drinking Water Utility PFAS Mitigation

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality has published a document entitled, “Decision Trees for PFAS Mitigation Selection in Drinking Water.” The document is intended for professional engineers to help drinking water utilities make informed decisions for mitigating PFAS. This decision tree approach is intended to be used in the very early planning stages for determining the most suitable non-treatment and treatment alternatives.

The document provides six decision trees for PFAS mitigation that are intended to be used iteratively. Tree 1 prioritizes considering non-treatment alternatives first, such as connecting to a nearby water utility, developing a new source, or blending sources, since these alternatives typically require lower capital investments and reduced operation and maintenance costs. If non-treatment is not possible for the utility, then Tree 2 helps with the general selection of best available treatment options. Trees 3-5 then help further analyze the use of each type of treatment (GAC, IX, and RO). Finally, Tree 6 evaluates simultaneous compliance and applies to both non-treatment and all three potential treatment options.

To read and download the document, visit the AZ DEQ website.