Sentinel Water Solutions is committed to helping water utilities and industries meet current and emerging PFAS drinking water standards with scalable, sustainable, and right‐sized solutions.
Meeting new per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) drinking water standards poses unique challenges for utilities with small well sites. Many of these systems operate with limited storage capacity, no redundant supply sources, and constrained budgets – making downtime or complicated media changeouts especially disruptive.
Sentinel Water Solutions is a full‐service provider of PFAS pilot testing, treatment systems, and turnkey media/vessel management solutions for utilities, industrial sites, and municipal water systems. With a focus on reliability, rapid deployment, and regulatory confidence, Sentinel has designed a portfolio of solutions tailored to the realities of small-site operators, emphasising speed, simplicity, and sustainability.
Full vessel swaps with pre-rinsed media
Traditional GAC and ion exchange media changeouts often require heavy machinery, onsite media transfer equipment, and wastewater handling capacity for backwash and rinse water. For smaller utilities, this can be costly, disruptive, and sometimes infeasible.
Sentinel offers pre-filled, pre-rinsed vessels to minimise system downtime. Once a vessel is exhausted, it is swapped out in full, minimising the need for large trucks and onsite carbon transfer equipment. This approach:
- Reduces traffic and heavy machinery in residential areas and space-constrained sites.
- Reduces the need for sewer connections and temporary wastewater storage.
- Cuts downtime – a critical factor for systems without redundancy.
Packaged ‘plug-and-play’ systems
For operators facing new compliance deadlines, Sentinel provides modular treatment skids and containerised systems that can be dropped in place, connected quickly, and brought online without extended construction schedules. These packaged units are pre-engineered with controls, pumps, and treatment vessels, simplifying site preparation and ensuring predictable startup performance.
Custom solutions to fit utility needs
No two small systems are alike, and Sentinel works to maximise the value of existing infrastructure wherever possible. In one example, Sentinel installed four short vessels inside an existing building rather than forcing the utility to construct a costly new structure for two taller vessels.
For sites with wide variations between permitted maximum and actual minimum flows, Sentinel also provides multi-train vessel systems. This configuration ensures efficient PFAS treatment at both low- and high-flow conditions, giving operators flexibility without oversizing equipment.
For sites with elevated PFAS concentrations, Sentinel often recommends a roughing filter approach to maximise media life by ensuring the mass transfer zone (MTZ) progresses through the lead vessel prior to disposal or reactivation.
Leasing and ‘as a service’ options
Recognising that many small systems are awaiting state or federal grant funding, Sentinel also makes its systems available on a lease or service basis. This allows utilities to move forward with PFAS compliance immediately, without large upfront capital expenditures, while still positioning for long-term ownership when funding becomes available.
Reactivation and stock management
In August 2025, Sentinel announced an exclusive channel partnership with DESOTEC, one of the world’s largest providers of sustainable activated carbon solutions, to deliver NSF-certified GAC reactivation and stock management programmes for US drinking water utilities. This will ensure continuity of supply, reduce landfill/incineration disposal, and lower total lifecycle cost.
This collaboration builds on DESOTEC’s 2023 acquisition of Evoqua’s carbon reactivation and exchange services business, significantly expanding its US reactivation network and capacity. With this agreement, utilities in the US now have expanded direct access to NSF-certified reactivation backed by Sentinel’s turnkey logistics and field services.
Through the partnership, Sentinel will serve as DESOTEC’s exclusive drinking water reactivation supply partner for municipal markets, managing the entire process – from vessel swaps and traditional media exchanges to NSF-certified reactivation at DESOTEC’s facilities and stock management.
Key benefits of ‘reactivation-as-a-service’ include:
- NSF-certified drinking water GAC reactivation: Meets the most stringent US treatment standards.
- PFAS-focused solutions: Designed for compliance with current and pending EPA regulations.
- Turnkey media exchange and vessel swaps: Removal, transport, reactivation, stock management, and reinstallation handled entirely by Sentinel.
- Sustainability and cost savings: Minimise waste, reduce operating costs, and cut carbon footprint versus virgin carbon replacement.
Delivering practical compliance for small sites
Sentinel’s small-site solutions are designed to match the operational realities of resource-limited systems. By combining pre-rinsed vessel swaps, modular packaged units, custom space-optimised designs, sustainable reactivation, and flexible service models, Sentinel helps ensure that small communities can meet PFAS standards without unnecessary cost, complexity, or disruption.
Please note, this article will also appear in the 24th edition of our quarterly publication.
