Smith Sanne J, Sylvestre Émile, Motelica-Wagenaar Anne Marieke, Cantoni Beatrice, Nair Parvathi Suresh, Palmeros Parada Mar
Delft University of Technology, Department of Water Management, Stevinweg 1, 2628 CN, Delft, The Netherlands.
Waternet, Korte Ouderkerkerdijk 7, 1096 AC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2025 Jul 16;27(7):1796-1809. doi: 10.1039/d5em00238a.
To protect human health, limits for the concentrations of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in drinking water are decreasing in many countries. However, the required treatment to achieve these lower concentrations is more resource and energy intensive than conventional drinking water treatment. Consequently, this intensified water treatment has an indirect negative impact on human health. For example, treatment with granular activated carbon (GAC), commonly used for PFAS removal, can lead to particulate matter emissions and additional global warming. These negative impacts partly off-set the health benefit achieved by lower PFAS exposure drinking water. In this study, we quantified health impacts of both the increased treatment and the reduced PFAS exposure in disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), to assess whether PFAS removal from drinking water to specified targets with GAC results in a net health benefit. We selected the prospective Dutch drinking water guideline for PFAS of 4.4 ng PFOA-equivalent (PEQ) L, as this guideline is amongst the more conservative concentration targets globally. We first conducted a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to quantify the health cost associated with the increased reactivation frequency of an existing GAC system in the Netherlands, required to achieve PFAS concentrations below 4.4 ng PEQ L. Then, we quantified the health benefit obtained by the corresponding lower PFAS exposure, using pharmacokinetic modelling combined with published dose-response relationships. For the treatment plant investigated in the current study, which uses reactivated wood-based GAC, increasing the reactivation frequency to remove more PFAS was found to result in a net health benefit of 6.9-300 DALYs per 10 persons per year. However, when single-use rather than reactivated GAC would be used for PFAS treatment, the health losses from the GAC production were in the same range as the health benefits from lower PFAS exposure. Overall, the negative health impacts associated with more intensive water treatment should be considered when developing strategies to reduce PFAS exposure.
为保护人类健康，许多国家对饮用水中全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）的浓度限制正在降低。然而，要达到这些更低的浓度，所需的处理比传统饮用水处理消耗更多资源和能源。因此，这种强化的水处理对人类健康有间接负面影响。例如，常用的去除PFAS的颗粒活性炭（GAC）处理会导致颗粒物排放和额外的全球变暖。这些负面影响部分抵消了因饮用水中PFAS暴露降低而带来的健康益处。在本研究中，我们以伤残调整生命年（DALYs）量化了强化处理和降低PFAS暴露的健康影响，以评估用GAC将饮用水中的PFAS去除至特定目标是否会带来净健康益处。我们选择了荷兰针对PFAS的前瞻性饮用水指南，即4.4纳克全氟辛酸当量（PEQ）/升，因为该指南是全球较为保守的浓度目标之一。我们首先进行了生命周期评估（LCA），以量化荷兰现有GAC系统为将PFAS浓度降至4.4纳克PEQ/升以下而增加的再活化频率所带来的健康成本。然后，我们结合药代动力学模型和已发表的剂量反应关系，量化了相应较低PFAS暴露所获得的健康益处。对于本研究中所调查的使用再活化木质GAC的处理厂，发现将再活化频率提高以去除更多PFAS会带来每10人每年6.9至300个DALYs的净健康益处。然而，若使用一次性而非再活化的GAC进行PFAS处理，GAC生产带来的健康损失与较低PFAS暴露带来的健康益处处于同一范围。总体而言，在制定减少PFAS暴露的策略时，应考虑与强化水处理相关的负面健康影响。
