Viraj deSilva to Lead New WEF Group on Emerging Pollutants
The Water Environment Federation has named Viraj deSilva to chair the organization’s new Micro-Constituents Community, which will focus on challenges and solutions surrounding emerging contaminants, including PFAS, microplastics and 1,4-dioxane.
Viraj, a Senior Treatment Process Engineer in our Tampa office and nationally recognized authority on solutions for PFAS pollution, completed a two-year term chairing WEF’s PFAS Task Force in 2023. In that role, he led the development of a PFAS-management guide for water utilities: “Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS): A Blueprint for Utility Managers–Strategies for the Next Five Years”
WEF, a nonprofit global network of water quality professionals, rolled separate task forces on PFAS and microplastics into the new Micro-Constituents Community to recognize the expanding field. Viraj will chair the new community for two years as its focus groups develop educational materials, guidance and workshops in multiple related areas in which pollutants are posing challenges for communities and regulators.
In early October, the Micro-Constituents Community held its initial meeting at WEFTEC, WEF’s annual conference, where Viraj also met with Zachary Schafer, Director of Policy in the EPA’s Office of Water, and Bart Meroney, Executive Director on the Office of Manufacturing in the Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration.
Viraj has more than 30 years of experience on water and wastewater treatment projects across the U.S. and 12 other countries, including PFAS management and treatment projects in eight states involving water and wastewater utilities, airports, landfills, fire training facilities and other contaminated sites.
He has shared his expertise through more than 360 industry publications and conference presentations and has authored manuals of practice for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, WEF, American Society of Civil Engineers and American Water Works Association (AWWA). He has served as vice director for the Landfill Management Technical Division of the Solid Waste Association and is currently contributing his PFAS knowledge to the Society of Military Engineer’s Industry-Government Engagement Group. He has global experience on water projects and serves on technical advisory groups for five universities conducting PFAS research in the southeastern U.S.
His PFAS work is cited in AWWA and EPA publications, and his recognitions include two awards from AWWA: 2022 Water Resource Sustainability Division Best Paper for “Potable Reuse and PFAS” (written with Freese and Nichols’ Justas Rutkauskas) and 2021 Membrane Treatment Best Paper for “Managing and Treating PFAS in Membrane Concentrates.”
