FY 2020 STATEMENT OF NEED 

Environmental Restoration (ER) Program Area

The objective of this Statement of Need (SON) was to determine the relative environmental toxicity of candidate aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF)-alternatives that are being developed and tested under SERDP & ESTCP. Specifically, projects were asked to address the following:

• Conduct experiments to compare the nominal toxicities of whole-foam formulations relative to the short-chain AFFF formulations currently used by the DoD due to the novel chemistries with the potential for complex mixtures of chemicals.
• Conduct chronic exposure experiments with environmentally-relevant receptors and endpoints using bioassays consistent with good laboratory practice.
• Consider the degradation products and bioconcentration potential of individual chemicals within the foams as practicable.
• Yield a rank order of the relative toxicity of each foam formulation. 

The projects listed below were selected to address the objectives of this SON. Additional information on individual projects can be found by clicking the project title.

• Comparative Assessment of Toxicity and Bioaccumulation of PFAS-Free Formulations in Terrestrial Plants and Model Soil Invertebrates
  • Lead Investigator: Xiaoqin Wu, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Assessing the Ecotoxicity of PFAS-Free Surfactant Formulations in Wild Mice and Japanese Quail
  • Lead Investigator: Michael Quinn, U.S. Army Public Health Center
• Ecotoxicity of PFAS-Free Fire Fighting Foams: Fish and Aquatic Invertebrate Species
  • Lead Investigator: Ed Wirth, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
• Multi-Taxa Ecotoxicity of Novel PFAS-Free Foam versus New Generation Short-Chain-PFAS AFFF Products: Aquatic and Terrestrial Species
  • Lead Investigator: Jamie Suski, EA Engineering Science and Technology, Inc.
• Soil Ecotoxicity of PFAS-Free Surfactant Formulations: Soil Invertebrates and Terrestrial Plants
  • Lead Investigator: Roman Kuperman, U.S. Army Chemical Biological Center
• The Relative Toxicities of Current Use Aqueous Film Forming Foams and Next Generation Alternatives to Aquatic Species for Informing Risk Assessment
  • Lead Investigator: Jason Hoverman, Purdue University

Research should provide knowledge of the potential environmental risk of PFAS-free surfactant formulations that will assist in the final selection of new formulations and mitigate potential exposures and/or future environmental cleanup.