Perfluoroalkyl substances in the Daling River with concentrated fluorine industries in China: seasonal variation, mass flow, and risk assessment

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated concentrations and composition profiles of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in surface water from the Daling River in different seasons. The highest concentration of ΣPFASs (9540 ng L −1 ) and dominant homologues were found in surface water collected in summer. Perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) were the dominant PFASs in four seasons with a total contribution of over 90 %. The discharge of two fluorine chemical industry parks was predicted to be the main contamination source of PFASs in the study area. The daily and annual mass flows were calculated according to data of detected PFAS concentrations and water discharge, and the annual mass loading of PFASs into the Bohai Sea from the Daling River reached to 461 kg year −1 . Hazard assessment indicated that concentrations of PFASs in study area had little risk to aquatic organisms and wildlife. However, the multiple health risk would be relatively high if the water was served as drinking water in the study area.

Polyfluoroalkyl substance exposure in the Mid-Ohio River Valley, 1991–2012

“…Ohio River water PFOA concentrations in 2009 increased 1–3 ng/L at WWTP outfalls, compared to measurements immediately upstream (Emery et al, 2010). However, water PFOA concentrations are much lower (1.4–7.4 ng/L) in rivers solely contaminated by WWTPs (Huset et al, 2008; Muller et al, 2011a), while industrial PFAS discharges predominate over WWTPs in waters contaminated by both (Castiglioni et al, 2015; Valsecchi et al, 2015; Zhu et al, 2015). Because PFOA contamination in other waters is reported to persist hundreds of kilometers downstream of PFAS manufacturers (Valsecchi et al, 2015; Zhu et al, 2015), PFOA discharged into the Ohio River 209–666km upstream of our study area could have contaminated our participants’ drinking water.…”

Occurrence and distribution of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in surface water and bottom water of the Shuangtaizi Estuary, China

“…Consequently, in recent years, PFASs have been frequently detected in different matrices including soil, water, sediment, biota, food stuff, human blood, etc. in China (Bao et al, 2010(Bao et al, , 2011Cai et al, 2012;Jin et al, 2003Jin et al, , 2009Liu et al, 2009;So et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2013a;Wu et al, 2012;Zhou et al, 2013;Zhu et al, 2015).…”

Release of Perfluoroalkyl Substances From Melting Glacier of the Tibetan Plateau: Insights Into the Impact of Global Warming on the Cycling of Emerging Pollutants

“…Clearly, the PFAAs chemical compositions in each snow layers were similar but differed to those monitored for rain ( Figure S3). Previous study indicated that no temperature-related or wind direction-connected trend was observed for PFASs in rain from urban regions (Kwok et al, 2010), but the variation in PFAS compositional profiles found for different precipitation events has been shown to be strongly source-related (e.g., traffic conditions or industrial activity; Zhu et al, 2015). As the climate of Nam Co is influenced by westerly winds in winter and the Indian monsoon in summer, the differences in the compositional profiles of PFAAs may provide an indication of the emissions characteristics of different source regions.…”