Population exposure to emerging perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) via drinking water resources: Application of multivariate statistics and risk assessment models

Kifayatullah Khan; Muhammad Younas; Jafar Ali; Noor Samad Shah; Yasar N Kavil; Mohammed A Assiri; Xianghui Cao; Hassan Sher; Afsheen Maryam; Yunqiao Zhou; Muhammad Yaseen; Li Xu

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116415

Population exposure to emerging perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) via drinking water resources: Application of multivariate statistics and risk assessment models

Mar Pollut Bull. 2024 May 8:203:116415. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116415. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Kifayatullah Khan¹, Muhammad Younas², Jafar Ali³, Noor Samad Shah⁴, Yasar N Kavil⁵, Mohammed A Assiri⁶, Xianghui Cao⁷, Hassan Sher⁸, Afsheen Maryam⁹, Yunqiao Zhou¹⁰, Muhammad Yaseen¹¹, Li Xu¹²

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; Department of Environmental and Conservation Sciences, University of Swat, Swat 19120, Pakistan. Electronic address: drkhan@uswat.edu.pk.
² Department of Environmental and Conservation Sciences, University of Swat, Swat 19120, Pakistan.
³ Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, COMSATS University Islamabad, Abbottabad Campus, 22060, Pakistan.
⁵ Marine Chemistry Department, Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box 80207, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia; Stockholm Convention Regional Center for Capacity-Building and the Transfer of Technology for West Asia (SCRC-Kuwait), P.O. Box: 24885, Safat 13109, Kuwait.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, King Khalid University, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia.
⁷ China Institute of Geo-Environment Monitoring, Beijing 100081, China.
⁸ Center for Plant Sciences and Biodiversity, University of Swat, Swat 19120, Pakistan.
⁹ Department of Environmental and Conservation Sciences, University of Swat, Swat 19120, Pakistan; Department of Environmental Science -ACES-b (Institutionen för miljövetenskap), Stockholm University, Stockholm 106 91, Sweden.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China.
¹¹ Institute of Chemical Sciences, University of Peshawar, Peshawar 25120, Pakistan.
¹² Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology, Beijing Academy of Agriculture and Forestry Sciences, Beijing 100095, China.

PMID: 38723552
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2024.116415

Abstract

This study assessed the occurrence, origins, and potential risks of emerging perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) for the first time in drinking water resources of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. In total, 13 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) with carbon (C) chains C4-C18 and 4 perfluoroalkyl sulfonates (PFSAs) with C chains C4-C10 were tested in both surface and ground drinking water samples using a high-performance liquid chromatography system (HPLC) equipped with an Agilent 6460 Triple Quadrupole liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) system. The concentrations of ∑PFCAs, ∑PFSAs, and ∑PFAAs in drinking water ranged from 1.46 to 72.85, 0.30-8.03, and 1.76-80.88 ng/L, respectively. Perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), and perfluoropentanoic acid (PFPeA) were the dominant analytes in surface water followed by ground water, while the concentration of perfluorobutane sulfonate (PFBS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA), perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), perfluorodecanoic acid (PFDA), perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUnDA), and perfluorododecanoic acid (PFDoDA) were greater than long-chain PFOA and PFOS. The correlation statistics, which showed a strong correlation (p < 0.05) between the PFAA analytes, potentially indicated the fate of PFAAs in the area's drinking water sources, whereas the hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) statistics identified industrial, domestic, agricultural, and commercial applications as potential point and non-point sources of PFAA contamination in the area. From risk perspectives, the overall PFAA toxicity in water resources was within the ecological health risk thresholds, where for the human population the hazard quotient (HQ) values of individual PFAAs were < 1, indicating no risk from the drinking water sources; however, the hazard index (HI) from the ∑PFAAs should not be underestimated, as it may significantly result in potential chronic toxicity to exposed adults, followed by children.

Keywords: Drinking water; Environmental risks; Multivariate statistics; Pakistan; Perfluoroalkyl acids; Source allocation.