Invited Talk: Pollution Patterns, Characteristics and Risks of Perfluorinated Compounds in Surface Water in Taiwan

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are synthetic and environmentally persistent pollutants that are amenable to transport and accumulation in aquatic environment. In this study, the water samples were collected from June 2017 to May 2018, and among 9 PFCs were investigated in the Nankan River in northern Taiwan. PFOA and PFOS were the two most dominant compounds with a mean concentration of 24.02 ng/L and 9.45 ng/L, respectively. Principle component analysis (PCA) and positive matrix factorization (PMF) model were employed to quantitatively calculate the contributions of sources. A total 40% (Factor 1) of the PFCs in the Nankan River was estimated to originate from various municipal activities source, including used in aqueous film-forming (AFF), 36% (Factor 2) from chemical industry and semiconductor and photonic industrial wastewater, and 24% (Factor 3) from industrialized and residential areas, such as household cleaning products, pesticides and insecticides, food packaging and originate from pesticide and chemical factories. The health risk of PFCs from consuming crops irrigated by Nankan River was assessed and the health risk assessment model was less than 1, showing that no obvious adverse effects to human health.