Source Attribution of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in Surface Waters from Rhode Island and the New York Metropolitan Area

Abstract

Exposure to poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) has been associated with adverse health effects in humans and wildlife. Understanding pollution sources is essential for environmental regulation but source attribution for PFASs has been confounded by limited information on industrial releases and rapid changes in chemical production. Here we use principal component analysis (PCA), hierarchical clustering, and geospatial analysis to understand source contributions to 14 PFASs measured across 37 sites in the Northeastern United States in 2014. PFASs are significantly elevated in urban areas compared to rural sites except for perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), N-methyl perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetic acid (N-MeFOSAA), perfluoroundecanate (PFUnDA) and perfluorododecanate (PFDoDA). The highest PFAS concentrations across sites were for perfluorooctanate (PFOA, 56 ng L−1) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFOS, 43 ng L−1) and PFOS levels are lower than earlier measurements of U.S. surface waters. PCA and cluster analysis indicates three main statistical groupings of PFASs. Geospatial analysis of watersheds reveals the first component/cluster originates from a mixture of contemporary point sources such as airports and textile mills. Atmospheric sources from the waste sector are consistent with the second component, and the metal smelting industry plausibly explains the third component. We find this source-attribution technique is effective for better understanding PFAS sources in urban areas.

Tap Water Contributions to Plasma Concentrations of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in a Nationwide Prospective Cohort of U.S. Women

“…PFASs were extracted using an Oasis Wax solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge (6mL, 150mg sorbent, 30-μm particle size) following methods established in prior work (Taniyasu et al. 2005; Zhang et al. 2016).…”

A review of the pathways of human exposure to poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) and present understanding of health effects

“…In prior work, researchers have used PFAS isomer profiles to assess the relative contributions from electrochemical fluorination (ECF) and telomere manufacturing to measured PFOA concentrations in the environment. 80, 81 Zhang et al 82 showed that the measured PFAS composition in surface water provides useful information on sources of environmental pollution. Hu et al 63 extended this approach to human biomarkers by comparing human serum samples collected at similar time periods and controlling for physiological differences.…”

North Atlantic Deep Water formation inhibits high Arctic contamination by continental perfluorooctane sulfonate discharges

“…We also included direct releases (360 Mg during 1958(360 Mg during -2002 from the 3M Decatur (Alabama) facility to the Mississippi watershed that accounted for a large fraction of global production in 2002 [Armitage et al, 2009a;Filipovic et al, 2013;Scott et al, 2009;3M, 2000]. We neglected other environmental release pathways such as leaching from landfills because they comprise <10% of total releases on the continental scale, even though they can be important for inland rivers and streams [e.g., Zhang et al, 2016]. We derived basin wide releases (μg person À1 a À1 ) based on wastewater treatment plants within each catchment area [CIESN, 2005].…”