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Application of WWTP Biosolids and Resulting Perfluorinated Compound Contamination of Surface and Well Water in Decatur, Alabama, USA
Citation:
LINDSTROM, A. B., M. STRYNAR, A. DELINSKY, AND S. F. Nakayama. Application of WWTP Biosolids and Resulting Perfluorinated Compound Contamination of Surface and Well Water in Decatur, Alabama, USA. ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Indianapolis, IN, 45(19):8015-8021, (2011).
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:
Perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) such as perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) have been produced and used in a wide range of industrial and consumer products for many decades. Their resistance to degradation has led to their widespread distribution in the environment, but little is known about how humans become exposed. Recent studies have demonstrated that the application of PFC contaminated biosolids can have important effects on local environments, ultimately leading to demonstrable human exposures. This manuscript describes a situation in Decatur, Alabama where PFC contaminated biosolids from a local municipal wastewater treatment facility that had received waste from local fluorochemical facilities were used as a soil amendment in local agricultural fields for as many as twelve years. Ten target PFCs were measured in surface and groundwater samples. Results show that surface and well water in the vicinity of these fields had elevated PFC concentrations, with 22% of the samples exceeding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Provisional Health Advisory level for PFOA in drinking water of 400 ng/L. Water/soil concentration ratios as high as 0.34 for perfluorohexanoic acid, 0.17 for perfluoroheptanoic acid, and 0.04 for PFOA verify decreasing mobility from soils with increasing chain length while indicating that relatively high transport from soils to surface and well water is possible
URLs/Downloads:
Environmental Science & Technology
Application of WWTP Biosolids and Resulting Perfluorinated Compound Contamination of Surface and Well Water in Decatur, Alabama, USA (PDF, NA pp, 326 KB, about PDF)