PFOS and PFOA in environmental and tap water in China

There is a great concern about global contamination with persistent fluoroorganic compounds including perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), however, few data are available on the environmental levels of these chemicals in China. In the present study, therefore, environmental or tap water samples collected from various regions of China were assayed for PFOS and PFOA by solid phase extraction and liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry technique. Median concentrations (maximum concentration) of PFOS and PFOA in environmental water were 0.4 (2.4) and 0.1 (1.3) ng L−1 for the remote area (n = 13), 4.0 (14.1) and 3.9 (30.8) ng L−1 for the urban area (n = 22), respectively. Systematic survey was also conducted in the Hun River (n = 11) and the Yangtze River (n = 34). In the Hun River, the median of PFOS concentration was 4.9 ng L−1, while PFOA was below the limit of quantitation (0.1 ng L−1) at many of the sampling sites. The Yangtze River was moderately contaminated with both chemicals: median concentration was 4.2 ng L−1 for PFOS and 5.4 ng L−1 for PFOA. Remarkably high concentration of PFOA was found at 2 sampling sites of the Yangtze River (110.6 and 297.5 ng L−1), but the concentration had declined to the average level at the next sampling site in both cases. Many cities provided tap water with low levels of PFOS and PFOA, however, tap water in Guangzhou and Shenzhen exceeded 10 ng L−1 for both chemicals. This study revealed obvious presence of perfluorinated compounds spread out the entire territory of China, and the levels in urban area of China were almost comparable to those in the US, Europe and Japan.