A study published last month found that the Delaware River contains low levels of the forever chemicals known as PFAS.
Kristen Kavanagh, executive director at the Delaware River Basin Commission which published the study, said the three-year survey tested for 40 types of PFAS chemicals, and found low levels in the sediment and fish samples along the Delaware near the Lackawaxen River.
She said PFAS levels increased much more near Chester, Pennsylvania, downstream of Philadelphia.
Kavanagh said she’s not alarmed by the findings, especially the low levels in the more northern rural reaches of the Delaware. And the findings are consistent with existing research about PFAS.
“It's everywhere, you know. It's in our air, it's in our soil, and there's no easy fix to get it out,” Kavanagh said. “It's going to be very expensive to get it down to the levels that are safe and that people feel comfortable with. But I think being informed is important. There's a lot of choices individuals can make about the products they use, and because there are a lot of ingestion pathways, besides drinking water.”
