PFAS investigations

The Division of Waste Management of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has begun investigations to determine potential sources and environmental impacts of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). DEP gathers the work on one page, DEP's Efforts to Address PFAS in the Environment, which lists its areas of investigation: fire training facilities, public well systems, state-funded waste cleanup sites, state-funded drycleaning sites, and federal Department of Defense sites.

In a Phase I ESA

ASTM E1527-21 does not name PFAS records among its standard record sources. The general reading is on PFAS in a Phase I. DEP's lists say where the state has already looked.

• Fire training facilities were surveyed in 2018. In 2018 DEP surveyed 45 certified fire training facilities on their historic use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) and the source of their drinking water, and identified the likely locations of nearby public and private potable wells. By February 2020 its Site Investigation Section had completed preliminary assessments at 26 facilities where AFFF use was confirmed or suspected, and three more have been identified and sampled since 2020. DEP's page lists 29 current and former fire training facilities, each with an ERIC ID and a last updated date, beside a map. Check a property at or beside a fire training ground against that list.
• State-funded cleanup sites were surveyed. The Waste Cleanup Program surveyed 38 sites undergoing state-funded cleanup, which DEP says range from former landfills, metal plating facilities and chemical manufacturers to electroplaters and users of various solvents. Its page lists the 19 found above DEP's provisional levels, each with an ERIC ID and a site category such as landfill or dump, electroplater, metal finishing, drycleaner or industrial solvents manufacturing. Where contamination was found above those levels, DEP says it worked with the Florida Department of Health on nearby water supply wells and keeps assessing the sites.
• Dry cleaners were screened too. In 2019 DEP surveyed 15 drycleaning facilities eligible for state-funded cleanup. It says PFAS are not typically used by the drycleaning industry, but that the results showed PFAS can be associated with drycleaner waste streams, and its Waste Cleanup Program continues to screen eligible drycleaning sites for PFAS. See the Drycleaning Solvent Cleanup Program page.
• Three public well systems were traced. DEP says monitoring under EPA's third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule found three Florida public well systems where the sum of PFOA and PFOS exceeded EPA's Health Advisory Level, and that its Site Investigation Section did preliminary assessments to find the likely sources; AFFF was found to be a source at all three. DEP's page on them gives an ERIC ID for each. DEP says its Water Supply Restoration Program provides alternative water for affected private wells; see the Delineated Areas Program page.
• DEP's levels are provisional. The two state-funded sampling pages give DEP's provisional groundwater cleanup target levels as 70 nanograms per liter for PFOA and PFOS, and 70 for the sum of the two, calculated with the equations and methodology of Chapter 62-777, F.A.C. The PFAS page dates the provisional groundwater levels August 2018, and also lists provisional soil cleanup target levels (April 2018), provisional leachability soil cleanup target levels (updated January 2019) and provisional irrigation water screening levels (June 2018).
• Firefighting foam is now reported. DEP's Waste Management page gives section 376.911, F.S., as effective July 1, 2026; under it, DEP says AFFF may not be used for any nonemergency instruction, training or testing, and every entity in possession of AFFF must report its inventory to DEP. The pages read do not say whether the inventories are public. For a property where firefighting foam was kept, ask whether an inventory was filed.

Federal sites are on the Federal Programs Section page.

Where to look a site up

• DEP's Efforts to Address PFAS in the Environment, which links each area of investigation and the provisional levels.
• Fire Training Facility Site Assessments, with the list and the map.
• Waste Site Cleanup State Funded PFAS Sampling Efforts, with the list of sites above the provisional levels and a map.
• Drycleaning Solvent Cleanup Program State Funded PFAS Sampling Efforts, which says the site ID number and ERIC ID may be found on the program's Priority Ranking List.

Getting the file

DEP's pages say to look a site up in the DEP Nexus Information Portal by its ERIC ID; for drycleaners, by the site ID number, the ERIC ID or the site address. DEP's OCULUS system and its paper records route are on the Public records and OCULUS page.

Sources

Florida Department of Environmental Protection pages, read October 15, 2026:

• DEP’s Efforts to Address PFAS in the Environment, last modified September 18, 2026.
• Fire Training Facility Site Assessments, last modified June 29, 2026.
• Waste Site Cleanup State Funded PFAS Sampling Efforts, last modified July 9, 2025.
• Drycleaning Solvent Cleanup Program State Funded PFAS Sampling Efforts, last modified June 1, 2026.
• PFOA and PFOS Sampling Efforts Associated with Public Well Systems in Florida, last modified July 9, 2025.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection page, read October 6, 2026:

• Waste Management, no modified date shown.