As covered frequently in the news, North Carolina’s water systems are threatened by a group of human-made chemicals. Often referred to as “forever chemicals” because of their persistence, their scientific name is per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, commonly known as PFAS.
In 2016, researchers from North Carolina State University and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency detected elevated levels of GenX and other PFAS in the Cape Fear River, a major drinking water source for residents of New Hanover, Brunswick and Pender counties. This sparked concern about the potential hazardous effects these substances posed to the health of residents and the environment.
The North Carolina General Assembly took steps to begin to understand these forever chemicals by generating scientific data to protect communities and their drinking water. The Water Safety Act provisions in the 2018 budget provided the North Carolina Collaboratory with $5,013,000 for academic research, used to establish the NC PFAS Testing Network, with program management housed at UNCW’s Center for Marine Science (CMS). Subsequent Water Safety Act provisions have extended these resources, establishing “forever funds for forever chemicals” to ensure that the impact and fate of PFAS in the state is fully addressed.
“UNCW is honored to house the network and to build capacity to serve this collaborative, state-wide research study,” said Stuart Borrett, associate provost for research and innovation.
The NC PFAS Testing Network leverages the expertise of university researchers within North Carolina. These researchers collaborate with state regulatory agencies to provide data used to identify and implement solutions to address PFAS contamination. Through these efforts and partnerships, NC is setting the gold standard for states’ responses to PFAS. UNCW Professor Ralph Mead, along with Rachylle Hart, a PFAST Network program specialist, leads the multidisciplinary, multi-institutional team of experts.
As project director, Mead oversees efforts to leverage the expertise, analytical instrumentation and technology from public and private NC higher education institutions to study PFAS toxicology, occurrence in drinking water, atmospheric transformations/occurrence and removal technologies. Public-private partnerships such as these harness the power of collaborative research to inform policy decisions and protect the public’s health, as well as the environment, said Mead.
A Florida native, Mead has been around water his entire life, spurring a great interest in the environment, particularly as it pertains to the ocean.
“This interest blossomed when I was enrolled in an undergraduate environmental chemistry class at Florida State University; I could see linkages between chemistry and the environment. In other words, I could see how I could apply my chemistry to the ocean,” he said.
He earned a doctorate from Florida International University in 2003. Currently a professor in the UNCW Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences and at CMS, he has taught at the university for 17 years.
“When I interviewed for the position at UNCW, I liked that I could do high impact research and still engage undergraduate students. The research facilities were and continue to be top notch,” he said.
In addition to the PFAST Network, Mead heads the Environmental Organic Geochemistry Laboratory (EOGL). Headquartered at CMS, the group studies natural and anthropologically-derived organic compounds in the environment at the land-ocean continuum. Their research is focused on the occurrence, transport and fate of PFAS in various environmental compartments, such as the atmosphere and marine sediments.
In 2022, Mead was one of four researchers awarded the inaugural North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality Applied Research Fellowship. The initiative further strengthens the partnership between state regulators and academic experts to address a pressing issue, in this instance PFAS science.
In 2023, Mead was inducted into UNCW’s Million Dollar Club for earning more than $5 million in external grant funding. In March 2024, Mead and Chad Lane, professor and chair of the earth and ocean sciences department, were one of five researchers within the PFAST Network to receive a cutting-edge instrument from the North Carolina Collaboratory and Thermo Fisher Scientific to advance PFAS research.
The Orbitrap Exploris 240 Isotope Solutions system offers one-of-a-kind ability to measure multi-nuclei stable isotope composition of intact organic and inorganic compounds. Mead and Lane will use the new instrument to develop a forensic tool to trace the source and fate of PFAS in the environment, ultimately aiding regulators in addressing contamination. Tools such as these continue to position UNCW at the forefront of academic PFAS research.
In 2024, the United Nations declared PFAS contamination in the state’s waters a violation of human rights. The Environmental Protection Agency responded by announcing utilities must restrict the amount of forever chemicals in their drinking water supply by 2029.Find out more about the NC PFAST Network
This article has the following tags: Research & Innovation