Burdens of Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) In U.S. Public Water Systems Open Access

Abstract

Objective: Identify relationships between the detection of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in public water systems and county-level sociodemographic characteristics across the United States.

Methods: Drinking water and concentrations of six per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances were obtained from the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (U.S. EPA) Third Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR3), and county-level characteristics were obtained from the 2010 U.S. Census. The data from these two sources were used to construct classification trees to identify predictors of PFAS detection.

Results: The detection frequency of the six PFAS ranged between 0.05% and 1.00%. With these low detection frequencies, only PFHxS, PFOA, and PFOS data produced classification trees. The main predictors for the PFHxS, PFOA, and PFOS included different measures of household income, facility water type, population size, and residential mobility. Surface water as the facility water type was a common split among all three of the contaminants.

Conclusions: The classification trees were a novel approach to identifying disparities in the detection of PFAS in drinking water; however, the low detection frequencies from the 2012 – 2015 data limited potential subgroups of importance. The same approach should be used in future PFAS drinking water data to better predict which demographic characteristics predict PFAS burden.

Table of Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data Sources

Perfluorinated Contaminants

RESULTS

DISCUSSION

Limitations

PUBLIC HEALTH IMPLICATIONS

REFERENCES

TABLES AND FIGURES

About this Master's Thesis

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School	Rollins School of Public Health
Department	Environmental Health
Degree	M.P.H.
Submission	Master's Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Environmental Health
Keyword	per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances classification trees PFAS drinking water environmental health disparities
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Matthew O. Gribble, Emory University

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