Perfluorooctanoic acid PFOA contaminated groundwater
Blood test Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) Serum
GENX is the replacement for PFOA
Perfluorooctanic Acid i. Pl. in µg/l
The BAT (Biological Workplace Dust Tolerance) value of the DFG is 5000 µg/L. The
Umweltbundesamt has determined the following reference value for PFOA in plasma/serum:
< 10 µg/l for women and men
That is, the value should be below 10 µg/l for someone who does not come into contact with these substances professionally.
PFOA was often used in the production of certain fluoropolymer products, such as Teflon. It was also used as a surfactant and lubricant in various industrial processes. It can also be found in groundwater.
PFOAS was used in fire-retardant foams, textile finishes and some other applications because of its fire-resistant and water-repellent properties.
News from the Dredging Village: PFOA found in groundwater from old landfills
October 29, 2016
Dordrecht municipality has examined the groundwater under the former Crayestein-Oost, Merwedepolder, Polder Stededijk and Transberg landfills for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). Light to very light levels of PFOA were found in the groundwater at all of these former landfills, but nowhere did the preliminary risk limit for PFOA in groundwater (248 ug/l) get exceeded. So reports the municipality of Dordrecht on Friday, October 28, 2016. The municipality of Sliedrecht informed the city council about the investigation on Friday.
PFOA was also found in groundwater at polder Stededijk opposite Sliedrecht.
Dordrecht has a number of former landfills where industrial chemical waste was dumped in the past, possibly also originating from Dupont/Chemours. These companies used the substance PFOA for many years until 2012. For all landfills, it is not known whether PFOA-containing material was dumped in the past, but given the dumping period and the limited registration at the time, this cannot be ruled out. Therefore, in recent months, the municipality has examined the groundwater under former landfills for which it has jurisdiction for PFAS (perfluorocarbons), a collection of substances to which PFOA also belongs.
Exceedance
Testing for PFAS in soil and groundwater is not yet common in the Netherlands. The Ministry of I&M has therefore set up a national pilot "Framework Determination PFAS" to determine how best to conduct this research.
Dordrecht is participating in this pilot with four locations: Polder Stededijk, the Merwedepolder, Transberg and Crayestein-Oost. The company Arcadis has taken groundwater samples at Polder Stededijk and Merwedepolder. These were analyzed and examined. Crayestein-Oost and Transberg were also sampled, by Tritium and Tauw respectively. In all cases, the levels of PFOA found in the groundwater were well below the provisional risk limit. However, the annual average upper limit of the environmental quality objective for PFAS in surface water is exceeded. This objective is widely regarded as extremely low, but must be achieved by 2027 in accordance with the Water Framework Directive.
Despite the fact that there are only slight to very slight levels of PFOA in groundwater, further research is being conducted in the PFAS Framework Study to interpret the results. This will also attempt to determine the origin of the PFOA found. There is as yet no unambiguous explanation for this. The effect of the contribution of discharges of water with elevated levels of PFOA to surface water and sewage treatment plants will also be addressed in the follow-up study.
The municipality is responsible for managing so-called "landfills. The province of South Holland is responsible for 'modern landfills': Crayestein-West and Third Merwedehaven. At the request of the province, the operators of these landfills have also examined the groundwater at the site of their own facilities for the presence of PFAS. The results of those surveys will follow shortly.
The provisional risk limit of 248 ug/l was prepared in 2014 by ENVIRON Netherlands BV on behalf of DuPont/Chemours in response to the soil contamination at the Chemours/DuPont site. These values were determined based on EFSA's European methodology. The national government has not yet drawn up a national intervention value for PFOA. Therefore, the Dordrecht municipality commissioned RIVM to draw up local risk values for PFOA. These risk values will become available in the spring of 2017.
The above-mentioned pilot concerns a national study under the name "PFAS Framework Determination. It is a partnership of the consulting firms TTE, Witteveen and Bos and Arcadis. Participating parties and/or sounding board members include the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, provinces, municipalities, water boards and RIVM. In total, research is being conducted across the country at 15 locations.
