Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION
Volume 236, Issue -, Pages 505-513Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2018.01.066
Keywords
Emerging contaminants; PFAS; PFOA; PFOS; Drinking water; UCMR3
Categories
Funding
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [2P42 ES013660]
- NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES [P42ES013660] Funding Source: NIH RePORTER
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) completed nationwide screening of six perfluoroalkyl substances in U.S. drinking water from 2013 to 2015 under the Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3). UCMR3 efforts yielded a dataset of 36,139 samples containing analytical results from >5000 public water systems (PWSs). This study used UCMR3 data to investigate three aspects of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in drinking water: the occurrence of PFAS and co-contaminant mixtures, trends in PFAS detections relative to PWS characteristics and potential release types, and temporal trends in PFAS occurrence. This was achieved through bivariate and multivariate analyses including categorical analysis, concentration ratios, and hierarchical cluster analysis. Approximately 50% of samples with PFAS detections contained >= 2 PFASs, and 72% of detections occurred in groundwater. Large PWSs (>10,000 customers) were 5.6 times more likely than small PWSs (<= 10,000 customers) to exhibit PFAS detections; however, when detected, median total PFAS concentrations were higher in small PWSs (0.12 mu g/L) than in large (0.053 mu g/L). Bivariate and multivariate analyses of PFAS composition suggested PWSs reflect impacts due to firefighting foam use and WWTP effluent as compared to other source types for which data were available. Mann-Kendall analysis of quarterly total PFAS detection rates indicated an increasing trend over time (p = 0.03). UCMR3 data provide a foundation for tiered design of targeted sampling and analysis plans to address remaining knowledge gaps in the sources, composition, and concentrations of PFASs in U.S. drinking water. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available