S2 EP03 | How PFAS Travel Everywhere: How PFAS Move Through Water, Soil, and Air

In this episode, we explore one of the most important questions about PFAS: How do they end up everywhere? PFAS, often called “forever chemicals,” are not only incredibly persistent but also highly mobile. Once they enter the environment through industrial discharge, firefighting foams, landfills, or wastewater, they can dissolve in water and travel long distances. Groundwater, rivers, and streams become pathways that carry PFAS far beyond their original source, allowing contamination to spread across communities and regions. We also examine how PFAS move through soil and air. Some PFAS compounds attach to soil particles, while others remain dissolved and continue moving through groundwater systems. Wastewater treatment plants often cannot fully remove them, which means PFAS can be transferred from water to sludge and eventually to agricultural land. Certain PFAS compounds can even travel through the atmosphere, attaching to dust particles and being carried by wind before settling back onto land and water. This mobility has allowed PFAS to reach remote locations far from where they were originally produced. Understanding how PFAS travel helps explain why they have become a global issue. These chemicals move through interconnected environmental systems, from water and soil to crops, wildlife, and people. Their ability to persist and spread means exposure is not limited to those living near factories or industrial sites. This episode highlights why prevention, responsible design, and stronger policies are just as important as cleanup efforts. When a chemical can travel across entire ecosystems, managing the problem requires thinking beyond local contamination and understanding the larger system at work. In the next episode, we explore whether plants can absorb PFAS from soil and water, and what that could mean for the food we eat every day.