- The Environmental Protection Agency announced its first agency-wide PFAS technology strategy on October 26.
- Projects will test cleanup methods under real operating conditions.
- Research grants will support work on destroying PFAS.
- Water systems will receive guidance on technology, funding, and technical assistance.
Thursday, October 29, 2026 –– The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is launching a coordinated effort to develop and test technologies for treating PFAS pollution, with a focus on tools communities can put to work.
Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the strategy on October 26 at an event in Commerce City, Colorado. The effort brings together research, field testing, and assistance for communities dealing with PFAS contamination.
The agency calls it the PFAS Technology, Evaluation, Coordination, and Harmonization strategy
, or PFAS TECH. Its central tasks are to support new cleanup methods, test their performance, and help water systems understand their options.
Testing Cleanup Methods Where They Are Needed.
A treatment method must do more than show promise in research. The strategy calls for testing technologies at drinking water systems, wastewater treatment plants, military facilities, and Superfund cleanup sites.
Those projects will examine how methods perform under actual operating conditions and whether they can handle the amount of treatment a community needs.
The agency plans to work with other federal agencies, states, businesses, universities, and water systems. Technologies identified for testing include foam fractionation and supercritical water oxidation, along with other emerging treatment approaches.
According to the announcement, pilot projects are already underway in several regions. They include testing foam fractionation to remove PFAS from groundwater and evaluating sampling methods that could reduce the cost of investigating contamination.
Research Funding for PFAS Destruction.
The strategy also includes planned grants to research ways to destroy PFAS.
The agency identified two potential funding sources: its Science to Achieve Results program and its Small Business Innovation Research program.
Public-private partnerships are another part of the effort. Jess Kramer, the agency’s PFAS lead and assistant administrator for the Office of Water, said those partnerships are intended to advance treatment technologies and reduce costs.
The announcement also described a study using full-scale pilot tests to improve drinking water treatment methods already being used across the country.
Turning Research Into Practical Guidance.
For water systems, the strategy includes easier-to-use guidance, updated technology information and help finding funding and technical assistance.
The agency also plans to launch a resource called the Break the Bond Navigator.
These steps are intended to give communities practical information about PFAS treatment as research and testing move forward. The October 26 announcement outlined that work but did not provide grant amounts or a schedule for launching the navigator.
