Discover the surprising connection between the frothy white foam appearing on some of the cleanest lakes in the United States and the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) – the notorious “forever chemicals”. This captivating investigation explores how these human-made compounds are interacting with the delicate ecosystems of pristine water bodies, posing potential risks to both the environment and public health. PFAS and their impact on the Finger Lakes region provide a thought-provoking case study on the unintended consequences of modern industrial practices.
A Curious Phenomenon
The Finger Lakes region, which is home to some of the cleanest deep-water lakes in America, has in many places been a mecca of lake trout fishing. Yet researchers and residents have been confounded by an oddity that, on rare occasions, stretches for miles atop these crystal-clear waters: striking white frothy suds.
In the case of algae, Richard W. Smith, founder of Sodus-based Global Aquatic Research and affiliated faculty in Binghamton University’s Earth Sciences Department said that the problem is relatively new to the Finger Lakes region — only becoming an issue within the past decade. Current blooms are ‘very new problem’Professor G. Andres López sounded the same note as the SKC scientists: These lakes began having algae blooms for only about a decade.“These lakes have only been getting algae blooms for less than 10 years; it’s a very new problem,” Smith said. This curiosity has inspired researchers to dig deeper into the reasons behind this oddity, and that led them to unveil an unexpected antagonist as well: PFAS.
The PFAS Connection
A ubiquitous class of synthetic chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, are the second example. These so-called “forever chemicals” are renowned for being biodegradability in the environment, meaning that they can build up over time in ecosystems and also human bodies.
Smith and his colleague Stella C. Woodard, also an affiliated faculty member at Binghamton University, have been studying how the strange foam relates to the presence of PFAS. It has discovered that the foam essentially grows in the middle of the lake and collects any number of surface-active compounds, including PFAS, as it is blown toward the shore by strong winds. The bulk of the compounds are very insoluble in water, and so they just end up sticking right at that air-water interface. When air becomes stuck in the surface microlayer, it generates foam because that very thin layer is extremely rich in chemicals,” says Smith.
Measuring the PFAS Threat
Results of the researcher’s examination of the foam samples have been worrisome. Though the lake water itself, at 5.4 parts per trillion, has a lower concentration of PFAS, inside the foam it’s a different story with it measuring over 70 times higher — from 381 parts per trillion to as high as nearly 387 parts per trillion. This chemical resilience appears to be on full display near Lake Michigan, where recent studies have revealed foam samples containing surprisingly high levels of PFAS— between six and 10 times that found within the lake. The troubling fact here, scientists write in a study published this week in ES&T-Environment Science & Technology (ES&T), is that we know from sampling data that this foam sticks around for days at a minimum before it biodegrades or washes away — potentially exposing pets, children and anyone messing with the foamy water in numerous ways to these particularly stubborn chemicals.
The researchers now plan to investigate the extent to which PFAS in the surface microlayer occur even before foam is formed — a project called «step 2. This will allow the research team to determine where in the region these chemicals are coming from — whether they’re washed in by local streams, blown in on the wind or stirred up from lake sediments — and how they pass through plants and animals. Ultimately, we want to know the full scale of the PFAS contamination and what it might mean for our water sources and public health in this region of 1.2 million people.
