PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' Found in About 96% of Florida Waterways Tested, Including the Hillsborough River, as New Tampa Bay Study Maps Hot Spots

Toxic PFAS, the so-called forever chemicals, turned up in roughly 96% of the 23 Florida waterways where monitoring data was available from 2022 to 2024, according to a new national report by the Environment America Research & Policy Center, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group. The contaminated waters stretch from Miami to the Panhandle and include the Hillsborough River, the main source of drinking water for the city of Tampa.

The findings land alongside new Florida research: a study of 511 surface water samples from the Tampa Bay estuary and nearby waterways, published in the journal Water Research, and a method developed at Florida International University that cuts PFAS lab testing time from more than six hours to about 30 minutes.

What the national report found

The report analyzed PFAS monitoring data from rivers, lakes and other surface waters collected from 2022 to 2024, mainly by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, with additional data from the Waterkeeper Alliance and state agencies in Maine and Massachusetts. Nationally, PFAS were detected at 83% of the 1,602 waterways tested in 40 states, and researchers identified as many as 114 different PFAS compounds.

Florida stood out. Across the 23 Florida waterways in the dataset, researchers detected 43 types of PFAS, according to Inside Climate News reporting republished by WUSF. The authors cautioned that the results likely understate contamination, both because some testing data was excluded and because many waterways have never been tested at all.

"There are numerous waterways where there is no data at all," said John Rumpler, clean water director at the Environment America Research & Policy Center. He noted that even a few parts per trillion of the chemicals is a serious concern. "PFAS chemicals are very persistent," he said.

The surface water findings do not by themselves show that tap water is contaminated, since utilities treat water before it reaches homes, and coverage of the report has emphasized that distinction. But surface waters such as the Hillsborough River feed drinking water systems, and they are also where Floridians fish, paddle and swim.

Hillsborough River and Tiger Lake

The Hillsborough River, which supplies Tampa's drinking water, was among the Florida waterways where PFAS were detected. The report coverage did not list concentration levels for the river.

The most striking Florida example was Tiger Lake, about 70 miles south of Orlando, a lake used for kayaking and fishing. All six monitoring sites there contained PFAS, with 36 different compounds detected.

Christian Wells, a University of South Florida anthropology professor who directs the Center for Brownfields Research and Redevelopment, said low-income and rural residents who eat fish they catch face higher risk, and that PFAS in fish is difficult to identify and regulate. "I suspect the problem is a lot worse than people think," he said.

A closer look at Tampa Bay

A separate study, "Targeted PFAS and Adsorbable Organic Fluorine in the Tampa Bay Estuary and Adjacent Waterways," published online Oct. 6 in Water Research, used a crowdsourcing strategy to collect surface water from a dense network of sampling points across the Tampa Bay region. Researchers screened 511 samples for 28 specific PFAS compounds and also measured adsorbable organic fluorine, a broader indicator that captures fluorinated chemicals a targeted test can miss.

The study's highlights report a single-sample maximum of 9,320 nanograms per liter for PFOS, one of the most studied and most regulated PFAS, and a single-sample maximum of 20,023 nanograms of fluorine per liter for adsorbable organic fluorine. The authors identified geographic hot spots around the bay. They also found that the median level of fluorine accounted for by the 28 targeted compounds was only 14% of the median adsorbable organic fluorine, suggesting that standard targeted testing may miss much of the PFAS present.

Those are surface water measurements, not drinking water. For scale, the federal drinking water limit for PFOS adopted in 2024 is 4 parts per trillion, equal to 4 nanograms per liter.

FIU's 30-minute test

Measuring PFAS is slow and costly, which is one reason so many waterways have no data. Researchers at Florida International University reported Oct. 15 in the Journal of Chromatography A that they had developed a method that cuts testing time from more than six hours to about 30 minutes.

The approach automates sample cleanup using online solid-phase extraction and pairs it with high-precision instruments, using smaller samples and less solvent and reducing the chance of human handling error. It detects 39 of the 40 PFAS compounds on the EPA's list. The team, which includes postdoctoral associate Maria Guerra de Navarro and associate professor Natalia Quinete of FIU's Institute of Environment, said the EPA should consider incorporating this type of technology into a standard method. The method still needs validation across multiple independent labs before it can be widely used.

The work has particular relevance for South Florida, whose drinking water comes from the shallow Biscayne Aquifer, which is vulnerable to runoff. FIU noted that neither wastewater plants nor drinking water facilities currently treat for PFAS, and that common filters such as activated carbon and reverse osmosis concentrate the chemicals into a waste stream rather than destroying them. Miami-Dade County tests its groundwater wells for PFAS every four months.

Why PFAS matter

PFAS are a large family of manufactured chemicals used since the 1940s in nonstick cookware, waterproof fabrics, long-lasting cosmetics and firefighting foam. They break down very slowly and build up in people and animals. Exposure has been linked to kidney, testicular and prostate cancers, high cholesterol, low birth weight and fertility problems. Heavier rain and storm runoff can wash the chemicals into waterways, a concern in a state as wet as Florida.

Where regulation stands

In April 2024 the EPA set the first national drinking water limits for PFAS, including 4 parts per trillion each for PFOA and PFOS, with utilities required to comply by 2029. Those PFOA and PFOS limits remain in effect. In May 2026, however, the EPA proposed rescinding the limits for four other PFAS and allowing qualifying water systems to seek an extension of the PFOA and PFOS compliance deadline to 2031. As of mid-October, those proposals had not been finalized, and the 2024 rule also faces legal challenges from water utilities.

In Florida, the Legislature passed the Joe Casello Act this year without a dissenting vote. Starting July 1, it bars the use of firefighting foam containing intentionally added PFAS for training and nonemergency testing and requires holders of the foam to report inventories to the Department of Environmental Protection. Under the bill's schedule, sale of the foam is barred starting July 1, 2027, and possession and use starting July 1, 2029, with exceptions for airports, some military uses and emergencies where no alternative is available. Larger wastewater utilities must also sample biosolids and treated effluent for PFAS quarterly and report the results to the state.

What's next

The report's authors called for phasing out PFAS, barring industrial facilities from discharging the chemicals into waterways, ending the spreading of PFAS-laden sewage sludge on farmland and continuing monitoring to track changes over time. The EPA's final decision on its proposed rollback and deadline extension is still pending, and Florida's quarterly wastewater sampling will build the state's own record of where the chemicals are entering its waters. For now, the Tampa Bay study's hot spot map and FIU's faster test give researchers new tools to find where contamination is worst.