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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Pollution
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1586800
Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances in coastal plain water network areas: shifting management focus to sediments
Provisionally accepted
Miao-Miao Wang1
Zhiqiang Xia1*Jianming Jiang1,2Haigang Wu3Hurong Huang1Xilong Zhang1Wen-Jun Hong1Minjie Li1Liang-Hong Guo1,4*- 1China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China
- 2China Coal Zhejiang Testing Technology Co. Ltd, Hangzhou, China
- 3Zhejiang Jiaoke Environment Technology Co. Ltd., Hangzhou, China
- 4Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, University of Chinese Academy of Science, Hangzhou, Jiangsu Province, China
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Per-and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are of great concern due to harm to human and wildlife health. Local-scale studies, especially those focused on ecologically important or densely populated areas, are critical to effective management, such as prioritizing resource allocation. Here, to prioritize management efforts, we investigated the distribution of PFAS in a densely populated coastal plain water network area in east China, followed by health and ecological risk assessments. Results demonstrated that ∑18PFAS (212.86-406.73 ng/L) in water had non-significant seasonal and weak spatial variations. Individual congeners, not the ∑PFAS concentrations, were significantly correlated with some water quality parameters. ∑PFAS in sediments, not surface water, demonstrated a significant negative relationship with river width. The perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) dominated the PFAS (water: 84.9%; sediments: 76.9%), while sediments harbored more perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids than surface water (PFSAs; 23.1% vs. 15.1%). Spatial variation of ∑PFAS was much more profound in sediments than surface water (CV: 83.7% vs. 14.1-46.3%). Despite a low-moderate risk to water birds (RQ: 0.069-0.16), we found neither evident ecological risks to other aquatic organisms (RQ < 0.01) nor human health risks of the water PFAS. Our findings revealed the divergent distribution pattern of PFAS in surface water versus sediments in coastal plain water network areas, likely due to presumable well-mixed conditions caused by tidal cycles and local water level regulations. Our work suggests that management focus of PFAS pollution should be shifted to sediments to optimize resource allocation in such coastal plain water network areas.
Keywords: PFAS, Surface water, sediment, Water Quality, Ecological risks, health risks, Management
Received: 03 Mar 2025; Accepted: 11 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Xia, Jiang, Wu, Huang, Zhang, Hong, Li and Guo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Zhiqiang Xia, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang Province, China
Liang-Hong Guo, China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310018, Zhejiang Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.