Perfluorinated compounds in a river basin from QingHai-Tibet Plateau: Occurrence, sources and key factors

Fengsong Zhang; Yonglu Wang; Zhuo Wei; Guixiang Zhang; Jiaqi Wang

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.113043

Perfluorinated compounds in a river basin from QingHai-Tibet Plateau: Occurrence, sources and key factors

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2021 Dec 1:228:113043. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.113043. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Fengsong Zhang¹, Yonglu Wang², Zhuo Wei³, Guixiang Zhang⁴, Jiaqi Wang³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; Zhongke-Ji'an Institute for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Ji'an 343000, China. Electronic address: zhangfs@igsnrr.ac.cn.
² Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Land Surface Pattern and Simulation, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Taiyuan University of Science and Technology, Taiyuan 030024, Shanxi, China.

PMID: 34863078
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2021.113043

Abstract

The occurrence of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in different environmental media in the QingHai-Tibet Plateau has been limitedly investigated. In this study, the water, sediments, soils and agricultural product samples were collected in the Huangshui River basin, and contents of the PFCs and values of water parameters were determined. This study investigated dominantly regulating factors of the distribution of PFCs in the water emphatically, explored the sources and assessed potential risks of the PFCs integrally. The results showed that perfluorohexanesulfonic acid, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluorooctanoic acid presented high maximum concentrations of 3207.42, 3015.96, 1941.89 and 826.4 ng L^-1 in the water, respectively. There were 12 PFCs detected in crops, with the maximum concentration of 5206.86 ng g^-1 for PFBA. The significantly positive correlation (p < 0.05) was observed between the concentrations of PFBA in crops and that in adjacent rivers, indicating that the irrigation most likely contributed to the accumulation of PFBA in the studied crops. The occurrence of the PFCs in the water during the dry season was dominantly regulated by fluorescent dissolved organic matters via the hydrophobic interaction, while it was primarily regulated by the total nitrogen and electrical conductivity via electrostatic interaction during the wet season. The PFCs in the water were mainly from the wastewater discharged from wastewater treatment plants and carpet factories, while the resuspension of the PFCs in sediments was also an important contribution especially in wet season. The PFCs in the river has posed sustained risk to the public health, especially children.

Keywords: Fluorescent dissolved organic matters; Perfluorinated compounds; Risk assessment; Source identification.