Visual PFAS™
All New Software for PFAS Site Characterization, Remediation and Forensic Assessment
Visual PFAS™ is an intuitive software for site characterization, remediation, and forensic assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) substances. Using radial diagrams and stacked bar maps, Visual PFAS™ helps professionals develop a conceptual site model, supporting assess source differentiation forensics, tracking remediation progress, and evaluating precursor degradation to regulated PFAS of Concern. Visual PFAS™ enhances forensic investigations, increases stakeholder understanding of your site ensures compliance with regulatory frameworks, and demonstrates groundwater remediation effectiveness, improving your efficiency and facilitating clear communication with stakeholders. One Visual PFAS™ map can replace up to 5 to 10 chemical maps.
All New Software for PFAS Site Characterization
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are persistent and bioaccumulative chemicals commonly found in industrial applications, firefighting foams, and consumer products. Due to their high resistance to degradation, PFAS are widespread in soil, groundwater, and drinking water, raising significant environmental and health concerns due to very low cleanup criteria. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has classified PFAS as emerging contaminants, highlighting their widespread occurrence and potential risks to human health. Similarly, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has recognized PFAS contamination as a critical global issue, calling for enhanced monitoring and remediation efforts to mitigate long-term impacts.
To address these challenges, Visual PFAS™ offers an advanced software solution for PFAS site characterization, remediation monitoring, and forensic assessment. By leveraging radial diagrams and stacked bar maps, the software enables professionals to visualize:
- PFAS transport pathways, and attenuation rates;
- Precursor transformations
- Source contribution forensics and remediation progress; and,
- Redox zones in groundwater.
With a data-driven approach, Visual PFAS™ supports the development of targeted remediation strategies, ensuring more effective decision-making in alignment with regulatory standards.
Why Choose Visual PFAS™?
Advanced Mapping and Visualization Tools for Enhanced Site Analysis and Stakeholder Communication
Visual PFAS™ provides cutting-edge PFAS mapping and visualization tools that streamline site analysis, reduce the need for specialized graphics support, improve conceptual models, and enhance Stakeholder understanding in your technical assessments:
- PFAS Plume Delineation – Quickly and easily identify areas where regulated PFAS exceed cleanup criteria.
- PFAS Site Assessment – Visualize the magnitude of PFAS attenuation along flow paths and the potential for precursor degradation to regulated PFAS across site locations.
- PFAS Risk Assessment – Evaluate chemical migration pathways to develop targeted mitigation plans.
- PFAS Remediation Solutions – Visualize pre- and post-remediation trends for multiple PFAS on a single radial diagram map, with the addition of exceedance and non-detect symbols which clearly demonstrate remediation performance over time.
- PFAS Environmental Consulting – Provide enhanced forensic assessments for differentiating sources of PFAS contributions to a commingled plume.
What are the benefits of using Visual PFAS™ for evaluating your site?
- Create powerful visuals in minutes – No need for specialized graphic support.
- Save time and reduce analysis costs – Automates PFAS data processing.
- Enhance regulatory and client communications – Improves conceptual models and reports.
- Develop stronger forensic assessments – Provides clear evidence for legal and compliance purposes.
- User-friendly interface – Designed for consultants, project managers, and regulators.
Discover Visual PFAS™
Basemaps
- Import map layers in *.shp, *.dxf, *.bln formats.
- Add, edit, and remove layers with customizable colors, fills, line weights, and styles.
- Plot all or a subset of monitoring well locations.
- Optional coordinate axes and scale bar styles.
- Overlay radial diagrams and stacked bar maps to highlight PFAS contamination hotspots.
- Create multiple basemaps for different focus areas.
Project Database
- Import project database files in *.csv format.
- Import chemical datasets and track PFAS monitoring events.
- Manage location lists and groups.
- Store chemical properties, cleanup criteria, and compound groupings.
- Track monitoring events.
- Record analytical results of chemical compounds.
- Automatically convert concentration units and manage reference series for PFAS risk assessment.
- Manage reference series lists and analytical results (e.g., source or background).
Radial Diagrams
- Select the number of axes and assign chemical compounds.
- Choose log or arithmetic scale.
- Select monitoring events and reference series.
- Plot concentrations or PFAS ratios.
- Customize series line and fill properties.
- Add exceedance and non-detect symbols.
- Adjust diagram positions to avoid overlapping at adjacent wells.
- Customize diagrams to highlight PFAS site assessment findings and compliance status.
Stacked Bar Maps
- Visualize PFAS contamination trends across different monitoring wells.
- Select chemical compounds, monitoring events, and well locations for stacked bars.
- Add stacked bars as a layer on site basemaps.
- Optional tick marks to estimate chemical proportions at each monitoring well.
- User-defined chemical sequence and colors.
- Ideal for forensic fingerprinting of PFAS sources and TOP assay visualization.
How Visual PFAS™ Is Being Used
Application
Description of Applications and Uses of PFAS
References
Site Characterization
PFAS site characterization involves identifying the extent and distribution of chemicals in soil, groundwater, and surface water. This requires collection of numerous field samples with large numbers of PFAS and other analytes. A sound conceptual site model is essential for risk assessment, remediation planning, and forensic analyses. Visualization tools are highly beneficial when evaluating – and communicating – large quantities of PFAS data.
How Visual PFAS™ supports site characterization:
- The real power behind Visual PFASTM radial diagram and stacked bar maps, which you can easily prepare in a few minutes, is the ability to evaluate trends for multiple chemicals on a single map (e.g., precursors vs. transformation products, short-chain vs. long-chain PFAS, and sulfonates vs. carboxylates).
- PFAS Site Assessment Tools – Delineate PFAS groundwater plumes and visualize the magnitude of attenuation along flow paths between across multiple locations.
- Basemaps – Imports site-specific map layers (*.shp, *.dxf, *.bln), allowing the overlay of monitoring and extraction well locations, source areas, and customizable site visuals.
- Radial Diagrams – Highlights PFAS exceedances, ratios, and magnitudes of attenuation at site locations, helping to assess plume stability and extent, precursor transformation pathways, and differentiating the effects of on-site source zones from background levels.
- Stacked Bar Maps – Display visual fingerprints of PFAS distributions at well locations, facilitating forensic analyses and chemical transport assessments.
Remediation
PFAS remediation strategies focus on mitigating contamination through technologies such as colloidal activated carbon in-situ, pump-and-treat, and foam fractionation. Monitoring in-situ and ex-situ treatment efficiency over time is critical to optimizing remediation efforts.
How Visual PFAS™ supports remediation efforts:
- PFAS In-Situ Remediation Solutions – Visualizes PFAA (perfluoroalkyl acid) attenuation in adsorption barriers, and allows for simultaneous comparison of pre- and post-remediation monitoring events on a single map.
- Project Database – Centralizes all PFAS analytical data, tracking remediation progress and evaluating effectiveness across different treatment phases.
- Trend Analysis – Identifies spatial and temporal changes in PFAS concentrations to assess remediation success.
- Customizable Data Visualization – Generates intuitive radial diagram and stacked bar maps, and super-impose exceedance and non-detect symbols to add important additional information to remediation monitoring visual aids.
- Improved Stakeholder Communication – Visual PFASTM maps allow you to convey results for multiple, inter-related PFAS constituents overlaid on a single site map, which helps stakeholders to quickly visualize and understand the effectiveness of a remedy.
Forensics
PFAS forensics involves identifying relative contributions from multiple sources and distinguishing between different PFAS compounds using geospatial and chemical fingerprinting techniques. This is essential for liability assessments, prioritizing regulatory investigations, and litigation support.
How Visual PFAS™ supports forensic analysis:
- PFAS Environmental Consulting Tools – Enhances forensic assessments by integrating geochemical and hydrogeological data for more precise source differentiation.
- Forensic Fingerprinting – Uses stacked bar maps to clearly visualize PFAS distribution fingerprints across multiple sources and well locations.
- Radial Diagrams – Visualizes PFAS ratios and signatures, enabling source apportionment by comparing fingerprints between different sites and source areas.
- Baseline Comparison – Integrates reference series and background levels to identify non-site-related PFAS contributions.
- Custom Reporting – Generates persuasive visual evidence for regulatory agencies and legal proceedings.
Background Assessment
Determining background PFAS levels is crucial for defining remediation goals and differentiating site-specific levels from regional influences. Defining background redox indicator concentrations is also important for evaluating the influence of site activities on the distribution of redox zones and the potential for precursor biodegradation to regulated PFAS of Concern.
How Visual PFAS™ supports background assessments:
- Project Database Management – Stores site and regional analytical data, as well as calculated background levels and site-specific cleanup levels for PFAS, redox indicators, metals, and other chemicals.
- Basemap Customization – Allows visualization of background monitoring wells relative to other wells at the site.
- Reference Series Management – Tracks natural and anthropogenic PFAS levels for statistical comparison.
- Radial Diagrams – Plot multiple data series on radial diagrams including reference background series and monitoring events to visually compare site wells to background. Unique methods for plotting redox radial diagrams which clearly delineate redox zones and areas where conditions are favorable for precursor biodegradation.
- Automated Data Integration – Converts concentration units and manages compound groupings to standardize background assessments. Radial diagram axes are easily changed between arithmetic and log scale to optimize visual effects.
About the Visual PFAS™ author
Useful information
- 2025 Webinar Presentation with four Visual PFASTM case studies
- 2024 SERDP-ESTCP Symposium poster with a PFAS visualization case study summary for a South Dakota Air Force Base
- 2024 REMTEC presentation with radial diagrams to visualize PFAS remediation performance monitoring for a PlumeStop® barrier at an east coast Navy base
- 2023 Journal Paper that includes radial diagram visualization of a source zone at an AFFF-impacted site
- 2022 SERDP-ESTCP Symposium poster illustrating radial diagram forensic applications for PFAS sites
- 2019 Journal Paper with radial diagrams to characterize PFAS and redox conditions before and after in-situ groundwater remediation of a source zone using PlumeStop® and an oxygen-releasing compound
- 2018 Battelle Short Course presentation with a number of radial diagram visualization case studies
- 2017 Keynote presentation demonstrating the use of radial diagram maps for visualizing biodegradation zones in groundwater
- 2004 Kelly Air Force Base case study using radial diagrams to visualize chlorinated solvents and redox zone changes during before, during, and after bioaugmentation
- 2003 Journal paper with radial diagram visualization of chlorinated solvents and redox indicators at Plattsburgh Air Force Base
- 1999 Journal paper with radial diagram visualization of BTEX and redox indicators at Hill Air Force Base
- 1996 conference paper with radial diagram visualization of chlorinated solvents and redox indicators at a Michigan Superfund Site
- Windows 10 or 11
- NET Framework v4.8 or higher
Webinars
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