Global occurrence and probabilistic environmental health hazard assessment of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in groundwater and surface waters

Among water bodies without acute contamination sources, PFAS are more common in surface water than groundwater.

“Among water bodies without acute contamination sources, the PFAS content of surface water is much more extensively surveyed than that of groundwater, and PFAS are more common in surface water than groundwater (Munoz et al., 2017; Sims et al., 2022).”

Few studies have sought to characterize PFAS contamination profiles in public drinking water supplies that do not have a clear contamination source.

“Few studies have sought to characterize PFAS contamination profiles in public drinking water supplies that do not have a clear contamination source (Gobelius et al., 2018; Sims et al., 2022).”

Compared to a literature review groundwater dataset, both detection rates and concentrations in the UDB are lower than the global average.

“Compared to the groundwater dataset from a literature review [115], both the detection rates and concentrations in the UDB are lower than the global average.”

Rivers are often the aquatic system most affected by PFAS contamination.

“Rivers are often the aquatic system most affected by PFAS contamination [115].”

The summed concentrations of PFAS are influenced by differences in the inclusion of compounds and the methodological change from the simple additive approach in DWD (2020) to the toxicology-based evaluation in the proposed EQS (2022), which accounts for differences in PFAS toxicity.

“It is important to note that the summed concentrations of PFAS are influenced by differences in the inclusion of the compound and the methodological change from the simple additive approach in DWD (2020) to the toxicology-based evaluation in the proposed EQS (2022), which accounts for differences in PFAS toxicity [115].”