Composition and Source of Perfluorinated Compounds in Soil and Waters from the Rural Areas in Eastern China

At present, little research on perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) has been carried out in rural areas. To better determine the pollution level and the geographical distribution of PFC in rural areas, soils, surface waters, and groundwaters were collected from 8 rural areas in eastern China. Seventeen PFC compounds were analyzed using Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and LC-MS-MS. The sources of PFCs are determined by compound ratios. Results show that PFOA (0.34-14.5 ng/g) is the dominant perfluorinated carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and PFOS (0.02-0.08 ng/g) is the dominant perfluoroalkane sulfonates (PFSAs) in the soils. PFCs in surface water are mainly PFOA (4.8-29.6 ng/L), PFHxA (0.73-31.8 ng/L), PFOS (nd-7.1 ng/L), and PFBA (nd-6.1 ng/L). PFOA (nd-176 ng/L), PFHxA (nd-50.1 ng/L), and PFBA (0.08-16.1 ng/L) are the dominant PFCs in groundwater. PFCs in soil and groundwater decrease from south to north. Two main sources of PFCs are domestic sewer and atmospheric precipitations, of which atmospheric precipitations have a greater contribution.