Aquagga, Inc., a startup based in Tacoma, Washington that was founded in 2019, has recently unveiled a device aiming to combat pollution by destroying over 99% of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water, noted by JD Supra.
PFAS, a group of man-made chemicals, have been manufactured and used in various industries worldwide, including in the United States since the 1940s. They are very persistent in the environment and in the human body, meaning they don’t break down and they can accumulate over time. Adverse health effects of PFAS exposure may include a potential effect on growth, learning, and behaviour of infants and older children, lower a woman’s chance of getting pregnant, interfere with the body’s natural hormones, among others.
Dr. Brian Pinkard, the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Aquagga, broke new ground in 2019 when he won the EPA’s “Innovative Ways to Destroy PFAS Challenge” with a ‘hydrothermal processing concept for the on-site disposal of PFAS-contaminated waste’. It is rather safe to infer that this became the basis for the recent exceptional development from the company.
Given the apparent many risks and prevalence of PFAS across the globe, the potential for this innovative technology is immense. While it’s still early days, the recent launch by Aquagga offers a fighting chance against these harmful chemicals. Legal practitioners should note this event with interest, as emerging environmental technologies such as these have the potential to reshape regulations and lawsuits around industrial pollution.
As such, it will be crucial to watch Aquagga and similar innovative initiatives closely, not only for the environmental potentials they inherently possess but also for the potential legal precedents they could establish in the environmental law space.