Review of PFAS Blank Data

Presented by Kelley Johnson, EMSL Analytical, Inc.
Contact Information: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

EMSL Analytical, Inc. reviewed a subset of our PFAS results, specifically those related to analysis of samples collected from well-water locations. The goal was to see if there was a relationship between sample results and field reagent blank results. We evaluated the results for all the various methods used to analyze the water samples and see how many had detection at or above the reporting limit, which then lead to the triggering of analyzing the field reagent blank. We thought well-water samples would have had a higher potential of contamination due to the close contact required with a person having to collect the water samples from within a home. However, when we analyzed the data, comparing each of the client samples with detections versus the results of the triggered field reagent blanks, there was almost no detection on any of the field reagent blanks. This may lead to questioning the 1:1 requirement to read a field reagent blank for every single sample submitted if there is a detection.