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Altadena PFAS Remediation
PFAS in Altadena: What Every Resident Needs to Know
Most people have never heard of PFAS. But they are in your home right now - in your non-stick pans, your carpet, your couch, your electronics, your insulation, your food packaging. Manufacturers have been using these synthetic chemicals for decades because they are remarkably effective at repelling water, grease and heat.
The problem is what happens when they burn.
When the Eaton Fire destroyed more than 9,400 structures in Altadena on January 7, 2025, it did not just burn wood and drywall. It incinerated the entire contents of those homes - releasing PFAS from thousands of everyday products directly into the soil. Scientists call them forever chemicals because that is exactly what they are. They do not break down in soil, in water or in the human body. Not in decades. Not ever.
Since the fire, every rainstorm has carried those chemicals from burned lots into the stormwater, into the Arroyo Seco and Hahamongna watersheds and into the water supply that Altadena's five water utilities draw from. LA Waterkeeper has already documented PFAS appearing in the Arroyo Seco near JPL in 2025 — where none was detected in 2024. The Eaton Fire is the reason.
At low levels, PFAS are linked to cancer, thyroid disease, weakened immune systems, and developmental harm in children. The federal government recently set the safe limit in drinking water at near zero (four parts per trillion) because so little exposure is considered acceptable.
The federal cleanup removed debris but did not test for PFAS. Families are rebuilding on untested ground right now.
There is a solution. The burned lots can be remediated, cleaned at the source, so the contamination stops permanently. Filtering the water treats the symptom. Cleaning the lots ends the problem.
That is what this community is fighting for.