Distribution, source identification and health risk assessment of PFASs in groundwater from Jiangxi Province, China

Qing Wang; Xin Song; Changlong Wei; Da Ding; Zhiwen Tang; Xiangming Tu; Xing Chen; Shenghui Wang

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132946

Distribution, source identification and health risk assessment of PFASs in groundwater from Jiangxi Province, China

Chemosphere. 2022 Mar;291(Pt 2):132946. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132946. Epub 2021 Nov 17.

Authors

Qing Wang¹, Xin Song², Changlong Wei³, Da Ding⁴, Zhiwen Tang², Xiangming Tu⁵, Xing Chen¹, Shenghui Wang⁶

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China.
² Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China. Electronic address: clwei@issas.ac.cn.
⁴ Nanjing Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People's Republic of China, Nanjing, 210042, China.
⁵ Agricultural Ecology and Resources Protection Station of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, 330046, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China; Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou, 730070, China.

PMID: 34800501
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132946

Abstract

There is an urgent need to investigate on the distribution and fate of short-chain analogues and emerging per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in groundwater, and little research on their source apportionment and health risks through the drinking water exposure pathway has been carried out. In present study, the concentration and source of 22 PFASs, including five alternatives: 6:2 fluorotelomer sulfonate (6:2 FTS), potassium 9-chlorohexadecafluoro-3-oxanonane-1-sulfonate (F-53B), hexafluoropropylene oxide trimer acid (HFPO-TA), hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (HFPO-DA) and ammonium 4, 8-dioxa-3H-perfluorononanoate (ADONA), were analyzed in 88 groundwater samples from wells in Jiangxi Province, southeastern China. The total PFASs concentration (Σ₁₈PFASs) in groundwater varied from 1.27 to 381.00 ng/L (mean 47.60 ng/L). Short-chain perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA) were the most abundant perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs), and short-chain perfluorobutanesulfonate (PFBS) was the most abundant perfluorinated sulfonic acids (PFSAs) in groundwater samples. The quantitative source apportionment by nonnegative matrix/tensor factorization coupled with k-means clustering (NMFk) model suggested that short-chain homologues and emerging alternatives have been used as substitutes for legacy PFOS and PFOA. Furthermore, the human risk assessment results showed that the estimated daily intakes (EDIs) for short-chain PFCAs were higher than that of PFOA, whereas the EDIs of PFBS, 6:2 FTS and F-53B were comparable to that of PFOS.

Keywords: Groundwater; PFASs; PFASs alternatives; Risk assessment; Source identification.

MeSH terms

Alkanesulfonates
Alkanesulfonic Acids* / analysis
China
Drinking Water*
Environmental Monitoring
Fluorocarbons* / analysis
Groundwater*
Humans
Risk Assessment
Water Pollutants, Chemical* / analysis

Substances

Alkanesulfonates
Alkanesulfonic Acids
Drinking Water
Fluorocarbons
Water Pollutants, Chemical