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DEVELOPMENT OF AN EPA METHOD FOR PERFLUOROCALKYL COMPOUNDS IN DRINKING WATER
Citation:
SHOEMAKER, J. A. DEVELOPMENT OF AN EPA METHOD FOR PERFLUOROCALKYL COMPOUNDS IN DRINKING WATER. Presented at 2007 American Water Resources Association, Vail, CO, June 25 - 27, 2007.
Impact/Purpose:
The objective of this research effort is to develop analytical methods to be used to measure the occurence of priority water pollutants in the nation's drinking water supplies. To accomplish this objective, ORD scientists must first coordinate with staff from the Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW) to identify the most appropriate chemical contaminants for which analytical methods need to be developed, and then ORD must develop, and demonstrate the applicability of, new or improved analytical methods, that are specific, sensitive, and practical enough for application in commercial laboratories as part of the UCMR monitoring efforts.
Description:
Perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFCs) have been manufactured for over 50 years and their use has dramatically increased over the years. Due to their unique properties of repelling both water and oil, PFCs have been used in a wide variety of applications. In 2001, identification of organic fluorine as PFCs was confirmed in human sera through the use of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS). These compounds received world-wide attention when the presence of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid were reported in blood and liver samples of animals in urban and remote locations.
Of particular interest is the global detection of PFCs in ground and surface waters as these can be potential drinking water sources. The 1996 Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act required the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish a Drinking Water Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) that contains a list of drinking water contaminants that the Agency will consider for future regulation. Because of the recent interest in PFCs, it is likely that they will be listed on a future CCL. One of the key pieces of information necessary to make a regulatory determination is nationwide occurrence data for the chemical contaminants under consideration. Historically, EPA's Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water has collected the necessary occurrence data under its Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulations. To gather occurrence data, a rugged analytical method is needed for these PFCs.
While several methods have been reported, these methods do not adequately address issues specific to analyzing PFCs in drinking water. Issues, such as preservatives, internal and surrogate standards, and establishing acceptable background levels, will be studied in this method development effort. The target analyte list includes the C6 through C14 perfluorinated carboxylic and sulfonic acids, as well as the perfluorooctanesulfonamidoacetates. Drinking water samples are concentrated by solid phase extraction using styrene-divinyl benzene sorbents and analyzed using LC/tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). Recovery and precision data for the target PFCs will be presented using various drinking water matrices. Detection limits below 10 ng/L will be demonstrated.