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Aqueous film-forming foam, which is used in military applications to put out fires, releases PFAS compounds into the environment.
How OCWD Is Addressing PFAS Contamination
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at OCWD is executive director of water quality technical resources. I work with our analytical laboratory, water quality monitoring programs, regulatory compliance, and research and development. Joshua Dill: Would you give us an overview of OCWD?
Joshua Dill: Please tell us about your background and how you came to be in your current position.
Jason Dadakis: OCWD is what’s known in California as an independent special district. It was created by the state legislature in the 1930s and charged with the role of managing the local groundwater basin. We are the groundwater basin manager for north and central Orange County. There are 2.5 million people in our service area, and the groundwater basin currently provides 77 percent of the water supply. Our major stakeholders are the 19 retail water agencies that have wells that pump from the basin and serve water to residential and industrial customers.
Jason Dadakis: I’m a hydrogeologist by training, and I have worked for OCWD for about 15 years. My current title here
Joshua Dill: What are PFAS chemicals and where do they come from?
28 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER
PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHELLE RASMUSSON.
er- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, a chemical family known as PFAS, were developed in the 1930s and 1940s and are now used in a wide variety of waterproof and oilproof containers, clothes, and implements, as well as firefighting foam. However, PFAS compounds’ ubiquity means that they have also made their way into water supplies that are used for human consumption, potentially causing serious health consequences. Orange County Water District (OCWD) is one groundwater management agency that is working with federal, state, and local agencies to test, identify, and monitor PFAS. In this interview, Jason Dadakis, OCWD’s executive director of water quality technical resources, speaks with Municipal Water Leader Managing Editor Joshua Dill about the occurrence and risks of PFAS and what OCWD is doing to combat them.
