The UN Summit for the Future (New York, 22-23 September 2024) brings together world leaders to forge a consensus on strategic initiatives to deliver a better present and safeguard the future. This year’s principal focus is sustainable development and financing, one of five key pillars of the UN’s ‘Pact for the Future’. 

Access to clean water is critical to achieving this goal, yet 2.2 billion people still live without safely managed drinking water services. One of the main barriers against achieving the clean water supply everyone deserves is the presence of Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl substances (PFAS), so-called 'forever chemicals' that have a long half-life and remain in the environment for decades. 

These long-lasting contaminants are routinely found in rivers, oceans, and reservoirs, which is a significant cause for concern as they pose a range of health risks, including reducing the effectiveness of the human immune system. PFAS also biomagnify, increasing in concentration within the tissues of organisms as they progress up the food chain before arriving on our plates. Thus, it is essential to manage them meticulously to maintain public safety.

 

International collaboration 

 

The summit focuses on advancing sustainable development, which the UN aims to achieve through multilateral cooperation. This will require improved international collaboration, new global consensus, and the development of sustainable finance that delivers for all. 

However, at present, just 17% of SDG targets are on track, nearly half are showing minimal or moderate progress, while over one-third have stalled or regressed. These delays underscore the urgent need to address water contamination issues, especially considering the Declaration on Future Generations, which prioritizes action on pollution, water scarcity, and various other environmental challenges to ensure a safe, healthy, and sustainable environment. These laudable goals can only be reached if strong and proactive partnerships exist between governments, regulators, industries, and innovators.

 

Expert insights

 

PFAS directly impacts the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals in several ways. They pose a health risk, including a reduced immune response to vaccinations, and they can accumulate in food chains and the human body. Significantly, PFAS are incompatible with green chemistry principles and sustainable development goals. Therefore, an uncompromising response to PFAS is essential to ensure planetary health. 

Having the tools to identify and analyze PFAS compounds accurately is a critical first step for estimating exposure and potential risk. However, with PFAS present in drinking and groundwater at a parts per trillion level, the task can be difficult, especially as there is still much to learn about these chemicals. Analytical techniques that provide reliable, quantitative, and qualitative data on PFAS at trace levels will be necessary for regulators to understand their impact on the environment, its ecology, and public health. 

Agilent has developed complete PFAS analysis workflows for extracting,  quantifying, and reporting the presence of PFAS in the environment at levels down to about 1 ng/L. These workflows typically require the use of liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC/MS) to achieve the necessary data quality. The generated data enables regulators to make better-informed decisions when drafting guidance. It helps ensure that industries and governments align their operations with the UNEP's sustainable water management goals and objectives and the UN Summit for the Future.

 

Collaboration is the key

 

Lawmakers around the globe are looking to limit or ban PFAS progressively. Accurately testing for these compounds in an increasingly strict regulatory landscape will be essential, as switching to alternative chemicals is not an overnight process. Collaboration will be the key to success when dealing with PFAS. The involvement of national and international regulators, industry bodies, manufacturers, testing labs, and analytical equipment vendors provides the best route to success. Achieving a sustainable future will require safe, reliable drinking water services. Therefore, UN members, policymakers, and global leaders must prioritize investment in water management and PFAS reduction in coalition with technology partners with a proven history of PFAS detection and remediation. 

Agilent offers a range of instruments that enable scientists to accurately analyze PFAS at trace levels to understand their environmental impact. The data generated will also allow regulators to make better-informed decisions when drafting guidance. 

Click here to discover more about Agilent’s extensive work with PFAS, water testing, and its role as a trusted solutions provider.

---