A largely overlooked class of forever chemicals is widespread in New Jersey drinking water and bottled beverages, researchers at the New Jersey Institute of Technology have found, raising new questions about how these persistent contaminants are monitored and how they enter everyday products. The study detected trifluoroacetic acid, or TFA, in more than 91 per cent of tap-water samples collected across all 21 New Jersey counties and in nearly 80 per cent of bottled beverages tested.
The findings, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology Letters and announced on October 13, describe what the team calls the first statewide U.S. monitoring study of ultra-short-chain PFAS. In total, the researchers screened 113 samples, 70 tap-water samples from communities across New Jersey and 43 commercially available bottled beverages, for five ultra-short-chain forever chemicals. TFA turned up most often.
What the forever chemicals study found
TFA was detected in 64 of the 70 tap-water samples, with at least one detection in every one of New Jersey’s 21 counties. Where it was present, the median concentration was 352 nanograms per litre, and the highest tap result reached 1,360 nanograms per litre. Several northern and north-eastern counties, including Essex, Hudson and Bergen, had higher county averages.
Among bottled products, TFA was found in 34 of 43 beverages. The 12 formulated drinks, with ingredients beyond water, averaged about 52 times more TFA than the 31 plain bottled waters. The forever chemicals findings are especially striking because New Jersey already has some of the strictest PFAS drinking-water standards in the country for longer-chain compounds. The state was among the first to set maximum contaminant levels for PFOA and PFOS, yet those rules do not cover TFA, leaving utilities with no regulatory obligation to test for or remove it. Some electrolyte waters and sports drinks were especially high, with the top result at 94,100 nanograms per litre, suggesting that ingredients or manufacturing processes may contribute contamination beyond the original water source.
Why these forever chemicals escaped detection
Conventional PFAS monitoring has concentrated almost exclusively on longer-chain compounds such as PFOA and PFOS, which have dominated regulatory attention for nearly two decades. “Most people have heard of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) because they have been the focus of regulations and water testing for years. TFA is different,” said Siwei Gu, a postdoctoral researcher in NJIT’s Emerging Contaminants Research Laboratory and lead author of the study.
“It is much smaller in molecular size, highly soluble in water, and does not bind strongly to many filter materials that work well for capturing traditional PFAS,” Gu explained. Those properties mean ultra-short-chain forever chemicals can slip through both the analytical instruments and the treatment barriers, including activated carbon and ion-exchange resins, that were designed around their larger relatives.
What the forever chemicals findings mean for water safety
The study’s authors, Siwei Gu, Santhoshi Chitthaluri, Ebenezer Etsiwah, Bishnu Pandey and Arjun K. Venkatesan, say the results expose a significant blind spot in water-quality oversight. While the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has moved to regulate better-known PFAS, the smallest members of the family have largely escaped routine testing.
Water utilities say removing these forever chemicals is technically difficult. Conventional treatment plants were designed for larger molecules, and upgrading them would require new technologies such as advanced oxidation or high-pressure membranes, investments that would ultimately be reflected in water bills. For now, the study authors recommend expanded monitoring as the first step, so regulators can see the full scope of the problem before deciding how to address it and whether new federal standards are warranted. Health researchers caution that the toxicological picture for TFA is still developing, and the study did not assess health outcomes. But its message for regulators is clear: a contaminant found in nine of ten taps in an entire state, plus most bottled drinks, cannot remain outside standard monitoring programmes. Whether New Jersey, or federal agencies, expand testing to cover these forever chemicals will determine whether the blind spot exposed by the NJIT team gets fixed.