Skis on the snow, ‘forever chemicals’ in the water: Study finds links between wax and PFAS levels at resorts

Michelle De Haan is a city water quality and treatment manager, not Sherlock Holmes. Yet when she and her team discovered potentially dangerous chemical compounds in three wells that pump from an aquifer under Park City in 2022, she embarked on a full-scale investigation. Lucky for De Haan, the culprit left fingerprints of sorts for her to follow. Some 15,000 human-made chemicals are classified as PFAS — short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as forever chemicals for their resilience to breakdown. Yet only about seven types showed up...