Eastern Municipal Water District
The Ponders wellfield provides over 10% of Lakewood Water District’s drinking water supply. The two wells are located down-gradient from McChord Field, where aqueous film forming foam containing PFAS was used for a number of years. In 2018, the District asked Kennedy Jenks to evaluate treatment alternatives for the rising concentrations of PFAS, including PFOS and PFOA in the groundwater.
The Kennedy Jenks team acted quickly by using data from the Well 59 project (which had similar characteristics) and were able to recommend a pilot solution that indicated granular activated carbon (GAC), a proven, efficient method for filtering out PFOS and PFOA to levels below health advisory levels, was the best treatment option.
By drawing on strengths such as agility and a focus on innovative solutions, they were able to design the system in four months and complete construction in 10 months. Since going online in January 2020, no target contaminants have been detected. This site is the largest PFAS treatment system for drinking water in the state of Washington.
