Applied Water Research in New York State Seminar: FLX PFAS Project

Every year, the New York State Water Resources Institute (NYSWRI) at Cornell supports applied research that address critical water resource problems in the New York State and the nation. This seminar series brings together researchers who work with NYSWRI and state agency partners to support and improve water management in the state. Speakers will present on a broad range of water related topics including water engineering and infrastructure, climate and flood resilience, water quality monitoring and assessment and aquatic ecosystems. The seminar will focus on ways in which robust science can support and influence on-ground management and policy outcomes, and center collaborative and interdisciplinary work between academics, water resource scientists, educators, managers, and policymakers in New York State.

Applied Water Research in New York State Spring 2026 Seminar Series will be held every Thursday at 2:30PM ET from January 22 - March 5, 2026. 

Speakers: Students of Professor Damien Helbling FLX PFAS Lab (Cornell University) w/introduction by Rassil Sayess (NYSWRI)

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a class of commercial and industrial chemicals that are detected in water resources around the world. The FLX PFAS Project was established in 2023 with goals of collecting water samples from around the Finger Lakes and quantifying the occurrence of PFASs, as well as integrating the resulting PFAS concentration data into a web-based ArcGIS project to communicate our findings to the public. Our work has revealed a number of sites within the Finger Lakes that may be impacted by PFASs and several sites that have PFAS concentrations that exceed health advisory levels. Notably, surface water samples collected near the southern end of Cayuga Lake and the Ithaca Tompkins International Airport exhibit high total concentrations of target PFASs. Many other sites throughout the Finger Lakes (all Finger Lakes have been sampled at least once) exhibit target PFAS concentrations that range from less than our limits of detection to high.