Dublin Airport reports high levels of PFAS
A new report shows surface water contains dangerous levels of the toxins.
Public health is threatened.
A waste dump at Castlemoate House at the airport and similar landfills across Ireland poison the land and sea.
By Pat Elder
April 22, 2024
We don’t know what they are using to douse the flames in this photo, but we do know the area is profoundly contaminated with PFAS toxins. Dublin Airport Training Ground
Figure 2-1 Site Layout Map
Blue – Area of Potential Concern 5 (APEC 5) - Former Fire Fighting Training Ground
Pink – Current Fire Fighting Training Ground
Orange – Proposed Apron 5H Development Area.
Green – Castlemoate House
Source: Dublin Airport 2021-2023 Environmental Monitoring Report Fehily Timoney, April 2024
Surface water draining from the fire training area shown in the blue area above represents a serious threat to public health in Dublin. The airport likely used carcinogenic fire-fighting foams in routine practice for 50 years. The deadly toxins were allowed to enter the environment in massive amounts.
The entire food chain is poisoned in Dublin, beginning with the sediment and the invertebrates.
Fire training operated at the former firefighting training ground from the opening of Dublin Airport in 1940 until 2000. The carcinogenic foams were likely introduced in the early 1970’s, as they were worldwide. Foams containing these substances are stored across Ireland, but after 2024 they can no longer be used.
There are numerous streams, rivers, and artificial land drains in and around Dublin Airport. As the topography surrounding the airport falls predominantly from west to east, surface water generally flows in an easterly direction. The soil, subsurface soil, groundwater, and surface water are heavily contaminated at Dublin Airport.
The sediment and the banks of streams and rivers are likely coated with these chemicals. The winds carry carcinogenic dust into the air to settle in our lungs and our homes. Dust is a major pathway to human ingestion.
Homes in Martinsburg, West Virginia near an Air Force base that employed the same fire-fighting practices reported in Dublin had 16.4 million ppt of PFHxS in dust and 13.9 million ppt of PFOS. Small children are most impacted. Vacuuming and sweeping may be hazardous to your health.
The runway surface water monitoring results at Dublin Airport show a sum total of 5,186.97 parts per trillion of PFAS. This includes 462 ppt of PFOA and 1,400 ppt of PFOS.
What does it mean?
The streams, shown in blue, may drain carcinogens into the sea.
Back in 1972, a stormwater drainage network that flows to various open drains and local watercourses was constructed and remains in operation at the Dublin Airport. Development at the north runway has constructed a new surface drainage system with outfalls to local streams and rivers.
Airports are built to send the water away. The ground is like a massive subterranean sponge that will squeeze out carcinogens forever.
Per Fluoro Octane Sulfonic Acid (PFOS) was detected in surface water at 1,400 ppt. at the airport. These are frightening levels!
In 2013, the EU environmental quality standard for PFOS in inland surface water was set at 0.65 ppt. See EU Directive 2013/39. Scientists warn us about the propensity of PFOS to bioaccumulate in aquatic life. The levels in the filet of fish may be up to 2,000 times the levels in the water. Ireland ought to be aggressively testing the fish and taking measures to warn women who are pregnant or may become pregnant to stay away from eating the toxic fish. No one else should eat it either.
It is not surprising that a sample taken from a flounder in the River Thames at Woolwich contained 52,100 ppt of the toxins. See this alarming report about PFOS in the UK. Meanwhile, the European Union recommends the sum of 20 select PFAS ought to be kept under 100 ppt in drinking water. The U.S. recently set an enforceable limit for PFOS and PFOA at 4 ppt in drinking water.
The state of Minnesota has placed limits on PFOS in some of its lakes at .05 ppt. They do this because they understand the chemical aggressively bioaccumulates in fish and is harmful to people. Levels of 1,400 ppt in surface water in Dublin are 28,000 times above the Minnesota limit. What’s in your fish and chips, Ireland?
The scant attention given to PFAS in the Irish media focuses on the drinking water while most of the PFAS in our bodies is from the food we eat, especially the fish.
Sorry for all the acronyms! PFAS are per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances. There are more than 15,000 of them. PFOS, PFOA, PFHxS, and PFBS are types of PFAS. This is something the Irish cannot seem to get their heads around, although Clare Daly, a member of the European Parliament from Dublin, is a notable exception.
Clare Daly, Member of the European Parliament
“These so-called ‘forever chemicals’ have been detected in more than 70% of the groundwater measuring points in the EU,” she explained. We know now that PFAS pose enormous health and environment risks and that big corporations have lied to us for decades about their dangers.”
Daly explained the impasse regarding PFAS in the European Parliament. (Ireland is a member of the European Union.) "Towards the end of last year, the European Parliament voted on legislation that would update the list of pollutants affecting surface waters and groundwater in the EU, and that included stricter thresholds for PFAS. But no progress has been made because the Council hasn’t adopted its position yet, so negotiations between the two institutions can’t start. The Irish government should really be pushing hard for this at the Council.”
Daly continued, “There is also a much bigger piece of legislation on the way that should be tackling PFAS - the revision of the REACH regulation. The EU Chemical Strategy promised that the most harmful chemicals in consumer products would be banned. Yet, in July it was reported that the Commission was on the brink of breaking this promise due to pressure from the chemical industry and right-wing political groups. Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden are the ones pushing for an EU ban. Why isn’t Ireland?
"The scale and concentration of PFAS pollution in Europe is shocking. Public health is more important than the profits of big business, but the EU seems hellbent on privileging the former over the latter."
Waste sites at Dublin Airport
and throughout Ireland poison communities.
Castlemoate House at Dublin Airport was built in 1822.
This was before the age of deadly industrial contamination.
High levels of PFAS have been reported in groundwater at an unregulated waste disposal site at Castlemoate House at Dublin Airport. PFAS is commonly present in liquid leachate from waste disposal sites throughout Ireland.
Modern landfills are extraordinarily toxic. Foams and filters caked with the carcinogens are buried with a host of PFAS-laden products, especially electronic equipment high in PFAS content. The toxic refuse is pulverized by the great bulldozers and thrust into the ground. Rain and snow create deadly liquid leachate below the ground. It’s like a giant coffee maker. The chemicals may enter the surficial aquifer and make their way to the deeper aquifer used for wells. The deadly toxins migrate to surface waters where they poison aquatic life. Usually, the leachate flows through pipes to wastewater treatment plants, but the result is the same.
Carcinogenic waste was buried at the Castlemoate House site between 1975 and 1984. Total PFAS levels were reported as high as 642 ppt., while Perfluoro butanoic acid, (PFBA) accounted for all of this contamination. The compound is used in firefighting foams, food packaging, and other applications. Studies have shown that PFBA is present in tissues of several species of fish.
From the Dublin Airport 2021-2023 Environmental Monitoring Report:
“In 2008, buried waste material was encountered during the excavation of a foul sewer connection on the grounds of Castlemoate House. The Regulators, consisting of Fingal County Council (FCC), Environmental Protection Agency and Dept of Agriculture were notified. Intrusive investigations were undertaken in consultation with Fingal County Council as the lead Regulator. The intrusive investigations determined the buried material comprised a mix of historical general waste and historical aircraft catering waste. It was estimated the waste was emplaced at the site between 1975 and 1984.”
Aircraft catering waste may be heavily laden with PFAS. The chemicals are used in materials that are resistant to grease and oil from foods.
In humans PFBA is associated with Liver Injury, Fibrosis, Hepatomegaly, Hyperplasia, Hypertrophy, Kidney Diseases, Necrosis, and Skin Diseases.
PFBA is also associated with an increased risk of a more severe course of COVID-19.
The well water samples at Castlemoate were taken at depths from .51 meters to 2.21 meters below the ground surface. Samples taken from deeper in the ground may or may not return higher levels. More testing is necessary. The carcinogens are known to seep into the ground over time. The groundwater at Castlemoate House flows in an east to southeast direction, toward the Irish Sea about 5 miles away.
Artist’s rendition of PFBA
While industrial production and use of PFBA has declined in recent years, PFBA can be formed in the environment as a breakdown product of related PFAS that are still in use. PFBA is persistent in the environment, meaning it does not break down easily in soil or water. PFBA more easily dissolves in water than other PFAS and does not stick to soil. This means it can move faster in the environment and may contaminate large areas of groundwater. In several large areas of Minnesota, PFBA has moved into groundwater over the course of many years. - Minnesota Department of Health
Minnesota knows a lot about PFAS because 3M, a manufacturer of PFAS-related products, is headquartered there and has poisoned the state’s people and environment.
Landfilled waste containing PFAS in Ireland
The Ireland Environmental Protection Agency collected leachate in 2017 from 48 municipal solid waste landfill sites across Ireland. The results are staggering.
Table 3.1. Summary of concentrations (ng/L or ppt.) of selected PFAS in landfill leachate from 48 sites in Ireland.
EPA Research Programme, 2014–2020 Furthering Understanding of Emissions from Landfilled Waste Containing POP-BFRs and PFASs
The maximum levels of the compounds shown above are frightening.
Let’s look at it:
PFOA 11,000. (ppt)
PFOS 7,400.
PFNA 250
PFBS 17,000
FOSA 65
PFHxS 2,600
The PFOS in the leachate (7,400 ppt) is five times higher than the most toxic drainage from the airport. (1,400 ppt.) PFOS bioaccumulates in fish while PFOA threatens crustaceans. Just a few parts per trillion of these chemicals in our seafood may impact human health.
It is fascinating - if that is the right word – that each of these compounds affect the human body in diverse ways. It is disconcerting that there are likely many more PFAS compounds they’re either not testing or they’re not reporting. It’s the same everywhere.
PFBS, with a concentration of 17,000 ppt in leachate, is associated with these diseases: Low birth weight, Gestational diabetes, Dyslipidemias, Hepatomegaly, Hypertension, and Pre-Eclampsia. People may be exposed to PFBS through a number of different pathways, including contaminated food and water, inhaling polluted air, and contact with products containing the compound.
The Irish EPA estimates that 98% of leachate from landfills is collected and sent to wastewater treatment facilities. The report is somewhat misleading on this note:
“Subsequent releases of PFASs via effluent from such facilities will depend on the efficiency with which such contaminants are removed during wastewater treatment. Any contaminants not destroyed during treatment may then potentially be released via aqueous effluent to the aquatic environment, or via waste solids that may be applied to agricultural land.”
It is not known if a single wastewater treatment plant in Ireland is currently using technologies like granular activated carbon (GAC) filters to remove PFAS known to be present in the liquid and solid waste. It is the greatest irony that the technology exists to prevent the vast majority of the toxins from entering the environment in this manner. What to do with the collected material is a pressing issue.
It’s staggering to consider that the median levels for PFOS and PFOA were 83 ppt and 230 ppts respectively for 48 locations across the country.
We can’t spread it on farm fields because it poisons crops like potatoes in the fish and chips. We can’t bury it. We can’t dump it into the rivers and we can’t burn it.
Incinerating materials containing PFAS is dangerous
Putting lipstick on a pig at the Dublin Waste to Energy facility.
Attempts to destroy PFAS through incineration often pollute communities downwind of these facilities. The process may recycle PFAS contamination into these areas and the environment. The toxic dust sprinkles a silent death over the land and water.
Incineration of PFOS and PFOA contained within Granular Activated Carbon filters usually occurs at temperatures ranging between 1600 and 2000 degrees Celsius,
The Irish EPA’s National Hazardous Waste Management Plan 2021-2027 states that temperatures of 1,200 degrees Celsius results in the thermal destruction of PFAS. Certainly, the science is not settled on this score.
Meanwhile, the Dublin Waste to Energy facility typically burns garbage at about 1,050 degrees Celsius. Household garbage is heavily laden with PFAS. The operators state, “Over 99.9 percent of what comes out of our plant’s stack is what you’d typically find in air - water vapor, nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. The remaining constituents are well below (Irish) EPA standards.”
It’s time for the Republic of Ireland to have a national conversation about PFAS. Public health is on the line while most are still unaware of the threat.
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I will be travelling to Ireland in July and Japan in August to meet up with environmental activists to test surface waters draining from industrial and military sites. It draws attention to the issue! Please help us! Each test kits costs $79. Please make a note that your contribution is for testing waters in Ireland and Japan. - Thanks, Pat
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