Spatial distributions of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were investigated in surface waters in Shanghai, Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces of eastern China during 2011. A total of 39 samples of surface waters, including 29 rivers, 6 lakes and 4 reservoirs were collected. High performance liquid chromatography/negative electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/(-)ESI-MS/MS) was used to identify and quantify PFASs. Concentrations of PFAS were greater in Shanghai than that in Zhejiang Province. Concentrations of the sum of PFASs (∑PFASs) in Shanghai and Kunshan ranged from 39 to 212 ng L(-1), while in Zhejiang Province, concentrations of ∑PFASs ranged from 0.68 to 146 ng L(-1). Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) was the prevalent PFAS in Shanghai. In contrast, PFOA and perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) were the prevalent PFASs in Zhejiang Province. Concentrations of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) ranged from <0.07 to 9.7 ng L(-1). Annual mass of ∑PFASs transported by rivers that flow into the East China Sea were calculated to be more than 4000 kg PFASs. Correlation analyses between concentrations of individual PFASs showed the correlation between PFHxA and PFOA was positive, while the correlation between PFHxA and perfluorooctane sulfonamide (FOSA) was negative in Shanghai, which indicated that PFHxA and PFOA have common sources. Principal component analysis (PCA) was employed to identify important components or factors that explain different compounds, and results showed that PFHxA and FOSA dominated factor loadings.

We examined per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in air from eight cities, and in water from six drinking-water treatment plants (DWTPs), in central eastern China. We analyzed raw and treated water samples from the DWTPs for 17 ionic PFASs with high-performance liquid chromatography/negative-electrospray-ionization tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/(-)ESI-MS/MS), and analyzed the gas and particle phases of atmospheric samples for 12 neutral PFASs by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA) were the dominant compounds in drinking water, and fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) dominated in atmospheric samples. Of all the compounds in the treated water samples, the concentration of PFOA, at 51.0 ng L, was the highest. Conventional treatments such as coagulation (COA), flocculation (FOC), sedimentation (SED), and sand filtration (SAF) did not remove PFASs. Advanced treatments, however, including ultrafiltration (UF) and activated carbon (AC), removed the majority of PFASs except for shorter-chain PFASs such as perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPA). We also investigated human exposure to PFASs via drinking water and the atmosphere and found that the mean daily intake of PFASs was 0.43 ng kg day.

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