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Determination of Perfluorinated Compounds in the Upper Mississippi River Basin
Citation:
Nakayama, S. F., M. STRYNAR, J. L. Reiner, A. D. DELINSKY, AND A. B. LINDSTROM. Determination of Perfluorinated Compounds in the Upper Mississippi River Basin. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, 44(11):4103-4109, (2010).
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory′s (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA′s mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD′s research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA′s strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Despite ongoing efforts to develop robust analytical methods for the determination of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) such as perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in surface water, comparatively little has been published on method performance, and the environmental distribution of these materials remains poorly described worldwide. In this study, an existing method was improved and applied in a large scale evaluation of the Upper Mississippi River Basin, one of the largest watersheds in the world. Samples were collected in 2008 in an effort that involved multiple sample sites and collection teams, long range transport, and storage of up to 4 weeks before analysis. Ninety four percent of the resulting 177 samples had quantifiable PFC concentrations, with 80% of the individual target compounds below 10 ng/L. The most abundant PFCs were perfluorobutanoic acid (C4; 77% > limit of quantitation, LOQ), perfluorooctanoic acid (C8; 73%), pertluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS; 71%), perfluorohexanoic acid (C6; 70%), and perfluoroheptanoic acid (C7; 69%), with the remaining target compounds occurring above the LOQ in less than 50% of the samples. The highest concentrations recorded include C4 at 458 ng/L, PFOS at 245 ng/L, and C8 at 125 ng/L, suggesting various point source inputs within the Basin.
URLs/Downloads:
Environmental Science and Technology
Determination of Perfluorinated Compounds in the Upper Mississippi River Basin (PDF, NA pp, 9817 KB, about PDF)