In this episode of The NextDrop Question, I speak with Linda Lee from Purdue University during a short conversation in Milwaukee.
Linda has spent more than three decades shaping how our field thinks about contaminants in real systems. Soils, biosolids, wastewater, reuse, PFAS, agriculture, and the pathways that connect them.
What makes Linda’s perspective especially important is that she studies contaminants where decisions actually happen. Not only in a lab method or a regulatory table, but in land, water, waste streams, farms, communities, and treatment systems.
This conversation focused on what Linda is thinking about now as the PFAS field moves from detection toward management.
She discusses why mitigating PFAS uptake into plants is complicated, especially when materials that perform well in greenhouse studies do not behave the same way in the field. Rainfall patterns, soil water-holding capacity, biosorbents, and field-scale dynamics can all change the outcome.
We also talked about biosolids drying and composting. Linda sees a practical opportunity to better understand where PFAS losses occur during these processes, whether those streams can be captured, and how biosolids could be made cleaner while preserving their value as fertilizer.
The conversation also moves to rainwater and wet/dry deposition. Linda raises an important unresolved question: what is driving background PFAS levels in rainwater, especially when direct industrial air emissions are being reduced? Her view is that the field needs to better understand the carriers, including vapors, droplets, and micro- or nano-scale water phases that may help PFAS move through the atmosphere.
This is exactly the type of discussion we need more often. PFAS management is not only about measuring what is present. It is about understanding pathways well enough to make better decisions for food systems, biosolids, water, and long-term exposure reduction.
A focused question. A practical takeaway. See you next time.
