Emerging contaminants refer to a number of chemicals whose impacts on human health and the environment are not yet fully understood. Emerging contaminants enter the environment in numerous ways, such as from industrial discharge or consumer product use, and are found in groundwater, surface water, soils, and air. Once introduced to the environment, chemicals each behave differently and carry varying levels of risk, creating complexities in detection, fate and transport modeling, risk assessment, and remediation. Emerging contaminants pose additional challenges due to evolving technical and regulatory understandings.
Trihydro has experience with several emerging contaminants, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), 1,4-dioxane, ethylene oxide (EtO), microplastics, energetic compounds, and endocrine disruptors (EDCs). We provide comprehensive environmental services related to emerging contaminants, from detection to remediation to risk management to expert witness testimony during litigation activities. To stay current with emerging contaminants research and regulations, Trihydro established an internal Emerging Contaminants group, with members actively involved in industry groups and trade associations such as the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC), National Groundwater Association (NGWA), PFAS Regulatory Coalition, University Consortium, and the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS).
Our engineers, chemists, and emerging contaminants experts understand the unique challenges associated with emerging contaminants, such as specific sampling protocols, variability in the number of analytes, and methods used by different laboratories. Trihydro has experienced chemists who are well versed in preparing quality assurance project plans (QAPPs), data management plans, and routinely contribute to sampling analysis plans and protocols (SAPPs) and project standard operating procedures (SOPs).