The good news is that there are three treatment technologies that have proven to be effective at filtering/removing PFAS from water. Of these, the most widely studied and applied method is the use of granular activated carbon (GAC) filtration systems. Made from high-carbon materials (such as wood and coal) in granular form, the GAC particles are porous materials with a high surface area on which PFAS can absorb. GAC can be implemented into flow-through filters and remove up to 100% of long-chain PFAS like PFOA and PFOS. However, this does not include all the known forms of PFAS, and filters must be replaced at different times depending on the type of carbon used.

Filters may also incorporate an ion exchange treatment as a method for removing PFAS from water. This technique involves adding anion exchange resins (AERs) - made up of tiny beads of hydrocarbons- to a flow filter system. As water flows through the filter positively-charged PFAS compounds are attracted to the negatively-charged AERs, and become stuck to the resin like its a magnet. Ion exchange treatments in filters have proven to be effective, but are more expensive than GAC systems.

The final tried-and-true method tested by researchers so far is the use of high pressure membranes, such as reverse osmosis or nanofiltration. These two types of filter systems remove different concentrations of finer minerals from flowing water, but both can effectively remove PFAS by forcing water at high pressures through a semi-permeable membrane. A promising outcome of the use of these membranes is that they appear to effectively remove both longer and shorter chain PFAS, unlike the other two methods. The one downside to reverse osmosis or nanofiltration is that 20% of the filtered water is lost and collected in the filter as a form of highly-concentrated waste - this raises concerns over waste disposal.

Removing PFAS compounds from soil has proven to be a difficult task; few of the methods at-hand can actually be expanded to become applicable in the field or on a larger scale. For example, promising research has indicated that a technique called ball milling - which involves revolving soil particles mixed with steel ball in a chamber at high speeds - has been shown to cause chemical reactions which lead to 96-100% reductions in PFAS within the sample. However, this process (among others like thermal and electrochemical treatments) have yet to be tested on-site rather than in the lab. Other methods for PFAS removal from soil can be effective but extremely disruptive to lands at the contamination site; the excavation and dumping technique falls into this category, which entails manually removing the contaminated layers of soil and transporting them off-site.

Some promising scientific results in recent years have shown that a potential remedy for PFAS in soil could be through chemical oxidation and reduction processes being applied on-site. In this method, a pressure injection through a vertical well is used to introduce highly reactive chemicals directly into the soil. These chemicals then bond with the PFAS and (in theory) kickstart a natural process of organic decay of the PFAS through oxidation-reduction processes. Although the on-site potential of this method is attractive, an experiment which has led to the full removal of PFAS from a sample has yet to be completed. Further research needs to be conducted to determine the best oxidation method for PFAS breakdown.

At this time, the most promising technique for PFAS removal from soil is known as "sorption and stabilization," or often referred to as immobilization. In this method sorbents (such as activated carbon) are added and mixed into the soil, where they bind to PFAS and stabilize them. This essentially traps the PFAS in the sediment, preventing them from mobilizing into ground or surface water. The immobilization method has on-site applications, but it does not actually destroy PFAS or completely remove them from the soil; there is still much uncertainty with regards to the long-term effectiveness of the technique.