On June 9, 2026, the Ontario Water Consortium hosted an Innovation Showcase webinar highlighting recent progress from a collaborative research initiative focused on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in Canadian water systems. The project brings together researchers, utilities, and technology providers to improve understanding of PFAS occurrence, transformation, and treatment in drinking water and wastewater systems.
Led by Professor Scott Hopkins at the University of Waterloo and Professor Franco Berruti at Western University, the initiative is supported by an NSERC Alliance Option 2 grant. Partners include USP Technologies, Brown and Caldwell, the Ontario Clean Water Agency, Ontario Water Consortium, and seven regional water and wastewater systems across Ontario. These utilities collectively serve more than 2.5 million Canadians, enabling long-term evaluation of PFAS under real operating conditions.
The project began in April 2023 with a kickoff meeting that aligned research objectives across academic, utility, and industry partners. A first public webinar in June 2024 introduced early findings, followed by a June 2025 update on monitoring results and emerging treatment approaches. The June 2026 webinar highlighted advances in both analytical detection and treatment technologies after three years of coordinated field and laboratory research.
Understanding PFAS in Water and Wastewater Systems
Since project initiation, researchers have analyzed approximately 1,600 samples collected from drinking water and wastewater facilities across Southern Ontario. These include raw and treated drinking water, wastewater influent and effluent, biosolids, and treatment residuals, forming one of the most comprehensive regional datasets on PFAS occurrence. The results reinforce a key challenge: conventional drinking water and wastewater treatment processes are not designed to effectively remove PFAS. As a result, many compounds persist through treatment and remain detectable in final effluents and residual streams.
Despite this persistence, all drinking water systems included in the study continue to meet current Health Canada drinking water objectives, indicating that PFAS concentrations in treated drinking water remain relatively low at the sites assessed. A significant finding relates to biosolids, where PFAS concentrations are consistently higher than in liquid wastewater streams. This highlights the importance of understanding how PFAS partition into solid waste streams and how these materials are managed or reused.
Researchers have also observed evidence of transformation within treatment systems, where certain PFAS appear to degrade or convert into other fluorinated compounds not present in influent waters. This suggests that treatment processes may alter PFAS chemistry in ways that are not yet fully understood.
Expanding PFAS Detection Beyond Targeted Methods
A major focus of the project is improving analytical capability beyond conventional targeted monitoring. Most regulatory methods focus on a limited set of known PFAS, while thousands of compounds remain unmonitored or poorly characterized. To address this gap, researchers are developing non-target analytical workflows using high-resolution mass spectrometry combined with ion mobility and advanced data processing tools. These methods allow broad scanning of chemical space rather than limiting detection to predefined compounds, enabling identification of previously unrecognized PFAS and transformation products.
The project is also building analytical libraries and computational tools to improve confidence in compound identification, particularly for PFAS without available reference standards. This is expanding the ability to characterize complex PFAS mixtures and improving understanding of contamination pathways in water systems. In parallel, researchers are advancing methods for volatile and short-chain PFAS, which are often underrepresented in conventional monitoring due to their chemical properties and analytical challenges.
New workflows combining gas chromatography, high-resolution mass spectrometry, and ion mobility are enabling detection of PFAS that may be present in air emissions, process off-gases, or other transport pathways. These methods complement liquid chromatography techniques and provide a more complete view of PFAS distribution across environmental compartments. Expanding detection capability is increasingly important as new treatment and destruction technologies are developed and assessed.
Advancing PFAS Treatment and Destruction
While improved monitoring is critical, the project is also focused on developing scalable treatment approaches. One area of research is biosolids treatment using pyrolysis, a thermal process that converts organic material under oxygen-limited conditions. In this process, PFAS are transferred into vapour-phase compounds that can be further treated through high-temperature oxidation. Results show greater than 99% PFAS removal from resulting biochar, demonstrating strong potential for reducing PFAS in solid waste streams.
Researchers are also evaluating additives such as calcium-based compounds to improve fluorine capture during thermal degradation. Early results suggest these additives may stabilize fluorine released during PFAS breakdown, reducing emissions and improving overall process performance. In addition, the project is investigating potential beneficial uses for treated biochar, including stormwater treatment applications. Ongoing work is assessing whether engineered biochars can be tailored for contaminant removal, including PFAS.
Another key research direction combines membrane separation with advanced oxidation in a closed-loop treatment system. This approach concentrates PFAS using membrane processes and continuously recirculates the concentrate through a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) oxidation process, enabling repeated exposure to destructive treatment conditions. Rather than treating concentrated waste as a disposal challenge, this system is designed to improve degradation efficiency while reducing energy demand. Pilot-scale testing has shown improved contaminant removal compared to standalone processes, along with promising energy performance.
Modelling work is being used to optimize system design and operating conditions. While further validation is required for PFAS-specific applications, the approach represents a promising pathway toward more sustainable water reuse systems.
Looking Ahead
As the project enters its final phase, researchers are continuing to refine analytical methods, evaluate treatment technologies, and expand understanding of PFAS behaviour in water and waste systems. The findings highlight that addressing PFAS requires both improved detection capability and advanced treatment technologies capable of addressing liquid and solid streams. Equally important is the collaboration between academic institutions, utilities, industry partners, and government organizations, which has enabled validation of research under real-world conditions.
Together, these efforts are contributing to a more complete understanding of PFAS in Canadian water systems and supporting development of tools needed for future monitoring, regulation, and treatment. As regulatory attention increases, the outcomes of this initiative will help inform long-term strategies for water system resilience and contaminant management.