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ADEQ will begin testing groundwater for PFAS at 6 key sites around Arizona

Kaulana Breitenbach,
Alisa Reznick/KJZZ
Kaulana Breitenbach, water quality specialist for the Marana Water Department, shows a sample of the activated charcoal used to filter out PFAS particles from the water. The treatment plant began using the carbon system in 2021.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality says it will continue efforts to monitor water for PFAS contamination in six key sites around the state. The humanmade chemicals have been linked to health issues like cancer.

PFAS are widely used in industrial and commercial goods — but they don’t break naturally and exposure at certain levels pose health hazards.

ADEQ says it received $5 million from Gov. Katie Hobbs, part of funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. The money will be used to further existing efforts to investigate the prevalence of PFAS around the state.

Agency Director Karen Peters says groundwater will be sampled at six high priority sites found to contain PFAS in previous investigations. The team will also collect samples of surface water and fish tissue.

Last month, the EPA updated its list of PFAS that will be federally monitored in groundwater — dropping four of the six chemicals originally listed in 2024.

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Alisa Reznick is a senior field correspondent covering stories across southern Arizona and the borderlands for the Tucson bureau of KJZZ's Fronteras Desk.