Volume 539, 1 January 2016, Pages 143–152
Highlights
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- PFASs were assessed in 96 drinking waters from Brazil, France and Spain.
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- The highest levels in tap and bottled waters were of 140 and 116 ng/l, respectively.
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- The tolerable daily intake has been estimated for 16 PFASs.
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- Drinking water did not pose imminent risk associated to PFASs.
Abstract
Human
exposure to perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) occurs primarily via
dietary intake and drinking water. In this study, 16 PFASs have been
assessed in 96 drinking waters (38 bottled waters and 58 samples of tap
water) from Brazil, France and Spain. The total daily intake and the
risk index (RI) of 16 PFASs through drinking water in Brazil, France and
Spain have been estimated.
This study was carried out
using an analytical method based on an online sample enrichment
followed by liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry
(LC–MS/MS). The quality parameters of the analytical method were
satisfactory for the analysis of the 16 selected compounds in drinking
waters. Notably, the method limits of detection (MLOD) and method limits
of quantification (MLOQ) were in the range of 0.15 to 8.76 ng/l and
0.47 to 26.54 ng/l, respectively.
The results showed
that the highest PFASs concentrations were found in tap water samples
and the more frequently found compound was perfluorooctanesulfonic acid
(PFOS), with mean concentrations of 7.73, 15.33 and 15.83 ng/l in
French, Spanish and Brazilian samples, respectively. In addition, PFOS
was detected in all tap water samples from Brazil. The highest level of
PFASs contamination in a single sample was 140.48 ng/l in a sample of
Spanish tap water. In turn, in bottled waters the highest levels were
detected in a French sample with 116 ng/l as the sum of PFASs.
Furthermore, the most frequent compounds and those at higher
concentrations were perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA) with a mean of
frequencies in the three countries of 51.3%, followed by
perfluorobutanesulfonic acid (PFBS) (27.2%) and perfluorooctanoic acid
(PFOA) (23.0%).
Considering that bottled water is
approximately 38% of the total intake, the total PFASs exposure through
drinking water intake for an adult man was estimated to be 54.8, 58.0
and 75.6 ng/person per day in Spain, France and Brazil, respectively.
However, assuming that the water content in other beverages has at least
the same levels of contamination as in bottled drinking water, these
amounts were increased to 72.2, 91.4 and 121.0 ng/person per day for an
adult man in Spain, France and Brazil, respectively. The results of
total daily intake in different gender/age groups showed that children
are the most exposed population group through hydration with maximum
values in Brazil of 2.35 and 2.01 ng/kg body weight (BW)/day for male
and female, respectively. Finally, the RI was calculated. In spite of
the highest values being found in Brazil, it was demonstrated that, in
none of the investigated countries, drinking water pose imminent risk
associated with PFASs contamination
Graphical abstract
Keywords
- Perfluoroalkyl substances;
- Water;
- Drinking water;
- Daily intake;
- Risk index
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
