In recent years, PFAS in water has been talked about more and more often, and not only in technical or scientific contexts. The topic has entered local news, daily concerns and political choices. And every time the same knot emerges: these substances resist, accumulate, move. Disappearing, however, is another story.
This is why each new solution is observed carefully, but also with a certain caution. Reducing PFAS means intervening on very stable chemical balances, where each step has consequences even after treatment. The arrival in Italy of a technology developed in Australia, already used in other countries, which aims to intervene on waste water, fits into this framework.
The experimentation will start from Piedmont and revolves around a system that works on a precise physical principle: exploiting the behavior of PFAS to separate them from water, instead of trying to destroy them directly.
The concrete step arrived last February 2026, with an agreement between Erica Srl and Acqua Novara VCO, a company that manages the integrated water service in 139 Piedmontese municipalities. The first Italian system based on SAFF40 technology, developed by EPOC Enviro, will be installed here.
The system has already been used in approximately 40 sites around the world, with results indicating an ability to reduce the presence of PFAS in treated water by between 95% and 99%. Data that attracts attention, especially considering how difficult these substances are to intercept.
The operation is based on a mechanism that follows the nature of PFAS. Inside the system, the contaminated water is crossed by micro bubbles of air. As they rise, PFAS molecules bind to the surface of the bubbles and are transported upwards, where a foam laden with contaminants forms.
At that point the separation occurs. The foam is collected and isolated, while the water continues with a reduced PFAS concentration. The process continues constantly, creating a sort of dynamic filtration that acts by progressive accumulation.
The point, however, is all in what happens next. PFAS are not destroyed, but concentrated into a smaller volume, which must be managed later. It is a substantial difference, because it shifts the problem instead of closing it completely. And it opens up an operational question: how to treat that concentrate, with which technologies and with what environmental costs.
The Italian experimentation will also serve this purpose, as well as verify the effectiveness of the system in real conditions, different from those of the sites already tested. Different waters, different contaminations, different infrastructures. If the results are consistent with those observed elsewhere, the system could also find space in other contexts. But it will be precisely the experience in the field that defines its concrete role.
PFAS in water, why do these substances continue to circulate?
To understand why any intervention on PFAS in water remains complex, we need to return to their structure. Perfluoroalkyl substances are molecules in which the hydrogen atoms are replaced by fluorine atoms. This creates extremely strong bonds between carbon and fluorine, among the most stable in chemistry.
This is where their persistence comes from. PFAS remain in the environment for years, pass through soil and water, enter organisms and tend to accumulate. For this reason they are often called “eternal pollutants”.
Their properties have made them useful for decades. They resist water, grease and high temperatures. They have been used in the production of non-stick pans, in dental floss, in agricultural fertilizers, in the treatments of materials intended for contact with food.
The result is a broad and layered diffusion. PFAS do not remain confined to a single area, but move between industry, the environment and daily life. They can be detected in surface water and groundwater, and from there enter food chains. Over time, research has increasingly clarified the risks associated with this prolonged exposure, increasing the pressure to find effective solutions. Yet, every technology faces the same limitation: the difficulty of completely eliminating these molecules without generating new problems.
In this sense, the arrival of the SAFF40 system in Italy represents an interesting step because it introduces a different approach, based on separation and concentration. Not a definitive solution, at least for now, but a possible piece within a broader strategy.
The experimentation in Piedmont thus becomes a concrete test bed. Not so much to understand whether PFAS can be reduced, but to evaluate how, at what cost and with what long-term consequences. Because when it comes to PFAS in water, time always remains a decisive variable.
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