Per- and Poly-Fluoroalkyl Substances in Portuguese Rivers: Spatial-Temporal Monitoring
Marta O. Barbosa,
Nuno Ratola,
Vera Homem,
M. Fernando R. Pereira,
Adrián M. T. Silva,
Ana R. L. Ribeiro,
Marta Llorca,
Marinella Farré
Affiliations
Marta O. Barbosa
LSRE-LCM—Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering-Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Nuno Ratola
ALiCE—Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Vera Homem
ALiCE—Associate Laboratory in Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
M. Fernando R. Pereira
LSRE-LCM—Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering-Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Adrián M. T. Silva
LSRE-LCM—Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering-Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Ana R. L. Ribeiro
LSRE-LCM—Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering-Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials, Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto, Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal
Marta Llorca
ON-HEALTH Research Group, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), C/Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Marinella Farré
ON-HEALTH Research Group, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), C/Jordi Girona, 18-26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Eighteen per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) were investigated in surface waters of four river basins in Portugal (Ave, Leça, Antuã, and Cértima) during the dry and wet seasons. All sampling sites showed contamination in at least one of the seasons. In the dry season, perfluorooctanoate acid (PFOA) and perfluoro-octane sulfonate (PFOS), were the most frequent PFASs, while during the wet season these were PFOA and perfluobutane-sulfonic acid (PFBS). Compounds detected at higher concentrations were PFOS (22.6 ng L−1) and perfluoro-butanoic acid (PFBA) (22.6 ng L−1) in the dry and wet seasons, respectively. Moreover, the prospective environmental risks of PFASs, detected at higher concentrations, were evaluated based on the Risk Quotient (RQ) classification, which comprises acute and chronic toxicity. The results show that the RQ values of eight out of the nine PFASs were below 0.01, indicating low risk to organisms at different trophic levels in the four rivers in both seasons, wet and dry. Nevertheless, in the specific case of perfluoro-tetradecanoic acid (PFTeA), the RQ values calculated exceeded 1 for fish (96 h) and daphnids (48 h), indicating a high risk for these organisms. Furthermore, the RQ values were higher than 0.1, indicating a medium risk for fish, daphnids and green algae (96 h).
