Environmental Science and Studies Program, Towson University, Towson, MD, USA.
Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jul 1;880:163149. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.163149. Epub 2023 Apr 1.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are highly fluorinated compounds with many industrial applications, for instance as ingredients in fire-suppressing aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF). Several PFAS have been demonstrated to be persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. This study better characterizes the bioaccumulation of PFAS in freshwater fish through a spatial and temporal analysis of surface water and sediment from a stormwater pond in a former Naval air station (NAS) with historic AFFF use. We sampled environmental media from four locations twice per week for five weeks and sampled fish at the end of the sampling effort. The primary PFAS identified in surface water, sediment, and biota were perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) followed by perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in environmental media and perfluoroheptane sulfonate (PFHpS) in biota. We observed significant temporal variability in surface water concentrations at the pond headwaters following stochastic events such as heavy rainfall for many compounds, particularly PFHxS. Sediment concentrations varied most across sampling locations. In fish, liver tissue presented the highest concentrations for all compounds except PFHxS, which was highest in muscle tissue, suggesting the influence of fine-scale aqueous PFAS fluctuations on tissue distribution. Calculated log bioaccumulation factors (BAFs) ranged from 0.13 to 2.30 for perfluoroalkyl carboxylates (PFCA) and 0.29-4.05 for perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSA) and fluctuated greatly with aqueous concentrations. The variability of PFAS concentrations in environmental media necessitates more frequent sampling efforts in field-based studies to better characterize PFAS contamination in aquatic ecosystems as well as exercising caution when considering single time-point BAFs due to uncertainty of system dynamics.
全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）是高度氟化的化合物，具有许多工业应用，例如作为灭火用的水成膜泡沫（AFFF）的成分。已经证明，一些 PFAS 具有持久性、生物蓄积性和毒性。本研究通过对一个历史上使用过 AFFF 的前海军航空站（NAS）的雨水池塘的地表水和沉积物进行时空分析，更好地描述了淡水鱼类中 PFAS 的生物蓄积情况。我们每周两次从四个地点采集环境介质，持续五周，并在采样结束时采集鱼类样本。在地表水、沉积物和生物群中主要鉴定出的 PFAS 是全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOS）和全氟己烷磺酸（PFHxS），其次是环境介质中的全氟辛酸（PFOA）和生物群中的全氟庚烷磺酸（PFHpS）。我们观察到，在许多化合物（特别是 PFHxS）受到随机事件（如强降雨）影响后，池塘上游的地表水浓度具有显著的时间变化。沉积物浓度在采样地点之间变化最大。在鱼类中，除了肌肉组织中浓度最高的 PFHxS 外，所有化合物在肝脏组织中的浓度都最高，这表明细颗粒水相 PFAS 波动对组织分布的影响。计算得出的 log 生物积累因子（BAF）范围为全氟烷基羧酸（PFCA）的 0.13-2.30 和全氟烷磺酸（PFSA）的 0.29-4.05，并且随水相浓度波动很大。环境介质中 PFAS 浓度的变化需要在基于现场的研究中进行更频繁的采样，以更好地描述水生生态系统中的 PFAS 污染情况，并在考虑单个时间点 BAF 时因系统动态的不确定性而谨慎行事。
