Identifying and sharing per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances hot-spot areas and exposures in drinking water

Abstract

Exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water is widely recognized as a public health concern. Decision-makers who are responsible for managing PFAS drinking water risks lack the tools to acquire the information they need. In response to this need, we provide a detailed description of a Kentucky dataset that allows decision-makers to visualize potential hot-spot areas and evaluate drinking water systems that may be susceptible to PFAS contamination. The dataset includes information extracted from publicly available sources to create five different maps in ArcGIS Online and highlights potential sources of PFAS contamination in the environment in relation to drinking water systems. As datasets of PFAS drinking water sampling continue to grow as part of evolving regulatory requirements, we used this Kentucky dataset as an example to promote the reuse of this dataset and others like it. We incorporated the FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) principles by creating a Figshare item that includes all data and associated metadata with these five ArcGIS maps.