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      Detection of Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in U.S. Drinking Water Linked to Industrial Sites, Military Fire Training Areas, and Wastewater Treatment Plants

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          Abstract

          Drinking water contamination with poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) poses risks to the developmental, immune, metabolic, and endocrine health of consumers. We present a spatial analysis of 2013–2015 national drinking water PFAS concentrations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (US EPA) third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3) program. The number of industrial sites that manufacture or use these compounds, the number of military fire training areas, and the number of wastewater treatment plants are all significant predictors of PFAS detection frequencies and concentrations in public water supplies. Among samples with detectable PFAS levels, each additional military site within a watershed’s eight-digit hydrologic unit is associated with a 20% increase in PFHxS, a 10% increase in both PFHpA and PFOA, and a 35% increase in PFOS. The number of civilian airports with personnel trained in the use of aqueous film-forming foams is significantly associated with the detection of PFASs above the minimal reporting level. We find drinking water supplies for 6 million U.S. residents exceed US EPA’s lifetime health advisory (70 ng/L) for PFOS and PFOA. Lower analytical reporting limits and additional sampling of smaller utilities serving <10000 individuals and private wells would greatly assist in further identifying PFAS contamination sources.

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          Most cited references35

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          Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Environment: Terminology, Classification, and Origins

          The primary aim of this article is to provide an overview of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) detected in the environment, wildlife, and humans, and recommend clear, specific, and descriptive terminology, names, and acronyms for PFASs. The overarching objective is to unify and harmonize communication on PFASs by offering terminology for use by the global scientific, regulatory, and industrial communities. A particular emphasis is placed on long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids, substances related to the long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids, and substances intended as alternatives to the use of the long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids or their precursors. First, we define PFASs, classify them into various families, and recommend a pragmatic set of common names and acronyms for both the families and their individual members. Terminology related to fluorinated polymers is an important aspect of our classification. Second, we provide a brief description of the 2 main production processes, electrochemical fluorination and telomerization, used for introducing perfluoroalkyl moieties into organic compounds, and we specify the types of byproducts (isomers and homologues) likely to arise in these processes. Third, we show how the principal families of PFASs are interrelated as industrial, environmental, or metabolic precursors or transformation products of one another. We pay particular attention to those PFASs that have the potential to be converted, by abiotic or biotic environmental processes or by human metabolism, into long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic or sulfonic acids, which are currently the focus of regulatory action. The Supplemental Data lists 42 families and subfamilies of PFASs and 268 selected individual compounds, providing recommended names and acronyms, and structural formulas, as well as Chemical Abstracts Service registry numbers. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2011;7:513–541. © 2011 SETAC
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            GeoDa: An Introduction to Spatial Data Analysis

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              Persistence of perfluoroalkyl acid precursors in AFFF-impacted groundwater and soil.

              Several classes of polyfluorinated chemicals that are potential precursors to the perfluorinated carboxylates and sulfonates are present in aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF). To assess the persistence of these AFFF-derived precursors, groundwater, soil, and aquifer solids were obtained in 2011 from an unlined firefighter training area at a U.S. Air Force Base where AFFF was regularly used between 1970 and 1990. To measure the total concentration of perfluorinated carboxylate and sulfonate precursors in archived AFFF formulations and AFFF-impacted environmental samples, a previously developed assay that uses hydroxyl radical to oxidize precursors to perfluorinated carboxylates was adapted for these media. This assay was employed along with direct measurement of 22 precursors found in AFFF and a suite of other poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs). On a molar basis, precursors accounted for 41-100% of the total concentration of PFASs in archived AFFF formulations. In the training area, precursors measured by the oxidation assay accounted for an average of 23% and 28% of total PFASs (i.e., precursors and perfluorinated carboxylates and sulfonates) in groundwater and solids samples, respectively. One precursor in AFFF, perfluorohexane sulfonamide amine, was observed on several highly contaminated soil and aquifer solids samples, but no other precursors present in AFFF formulations were detected in any samples at this field site. Suspected intermediate transformation products of precursors in AFFF that were directly measured accounted for approximately half of the total precursor concentration in samples from the training site. The fraction of PFASs consisting of perfluorinated carboxylates and sulfonates was greater in groundwater and solid samples than in any archived AFFF formulations, suggesting that much of the mass of precursors released at the site was converted to perfluorinated carboxylates and sulfonates. The precursors that have persisted at this site may generate significant amounts of additional perfluorinated carboxylates and sulfonates upon remediation of contaminated groundwater or aquifer solids.
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                Author and article information

                Journal
                Environ Sci Technol Lett
                Environ Sci Technol Lett
                ez
                estlcu
                Environmental Science & Technology Letters
                American Chemical Society
                2328-8930
                09 August 2016
                11 October 2016
                : 3
                : 10
                : 344-350
                Affiliations
                []Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health , Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
                []Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences , Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, United States
                [§ ]Environmental Working Group , Washington, D.C. 20009, United States
                []National Exposure Research Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, United States
                []University of California at Berkeley , Berkeley, California 94720, United States
                [# ]Silent Spring Institute , Newton, Massachusetts 02460, United States
                [@ ]University of Rhode Island , Narragansett, Rhode Island 02882, United States
                []Green Science Policy Institute , Berkeley, California 94705, United States
                []California Department of Toxic Substances Control , 1001 I Street, Sacramento, California 95814, United States (Formerly at the Green Science Policy Institute, Berkeley, California 94705, United States)
                []Colorado School of Mines , 1500 Illinois Street, Golden, Colorado 80401, United States
                Author notes
                [* ]Address: 128 Pierce Hall, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138. Phone: 1-617-384-8839. E-mail: xhu@ 123456mail.harvard.edu .
                Article
                10.1021/acs.estlett.6b00260
                5062567
                27752509
                6cc26729-ab29-46a3-99d0-e3af7cfca0d9
                Copyright © 2016 American Chemical Society

                This is an open access article published under an ACS AuthorChoice License, which permits copying and redistribution of the article or any adaptations for non-commercial purposes.

                History
                : 11 July 2016
                : 22 July 2016
                Categories
                Letter
                Custom metadata
                ez6b00260
                ez-2016-00260m

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