Contamination Characteristics and Potential Ecological Risks of Typical Perfluoroalkyl Substances in the Water and Sediment of Coastal Tourism Resorts in Shandong Province

Abstract

Coastal tourism resorts have been developing rapidly in recent years, and the quality of their waterbodies directly affects human health. Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are found in every environmental medium and have garnered widespread social concern because of their potential ecological harm. This study investigated the contamination characteristics and potential ecological risks of 12 PFASs in the water and sediment of 20 coastal tourism resorts in Shandong Peninsula. The results revealed that all targeted pollutants were observed in the water and most sediment samples collected from the coastal tourism resorts. The sum of the 12 PFASs ∑PFASs averaged 67.91 ng·L-1 and 5.89 ng·g-1 in the water and sediment, respectively. The predominant compounds were perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) in both water and sediment. The ∑PFASs and its homologues concentration indicated the spatial variations in the water and sediment of different tourism resorts, and the values were higher in the tourism resorts near the city center and the industrial areas than in other areas. The partition coefficient (Kd) of all the target compounds in the water/sediment system of different tourism resorts showed obvious differences. In addition, the Kd of the compounds with longer carbon chains (C ≥ 7) generally had higher Kd values, which suggests that long-chain PFAAs are prone to adsorption by sediment. Therefore, the discharge of municipal industrial wastewater and domestic sewage is the main source of contamination. The salinity of water and the total carbon contents of sediment did not show any effect on the partition of PFASs in the water/sediment system. PFOS and PFOA might have great potential ecological risks in the water environment of all tourism resorts.