One of the world’s largest water services companies is removing the “forever” from “forever chemicals.” Toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), linked to cancers and other illnesses, linger in the environment and can accumulate in the body. In 2025, French firm Veolia flexed its global leadership in PFAS treatment by opening a massive plant in Delaware that filters PFAS from water and incinerates it to break the bond between fluorine and carbon, one of the strongest in chemistry. The plant filters 30 million gallons per day, delivering cleaner drinking water to more than 100,000 residents.
Now the company, which treated more than 7.6 billion cubic meters of water last year, is on track to have more than 100 PFAS water treatment sites across the U.S. in the coming years. “You need everyone around the table,” Veolia’s deputy CEO Emmanuelle Menning says. “We need regulation to be implemented, to be followed. We need investments in R&D. Private companies are part of the solution.” Growing public concern about PFAS creates opportunity: Veolia is targeting €1 billion ($1.16 billion) in revenue from mitigating micropollutants by 2030.