Prevalence of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) in the environment and the effectiveness of current water treatment processes

Fluorinated organic chemicals have a wide range of industrial uses including medicine, agriculture and household products. Many of these chemicals are released directly into the environment as part of their use or lost through fugitive emissions. What makes these chemicals so persistent in the environment, is the strength of the carbon-fluorine bond (-CF3). The carbon-fluorine bond is resistant to degradation in the environment which results in the release of TFA as a terminal residue, following environmental degradation of the parent materials.

TFA is a very persistent and mobile contaminant which is present ubiquitously in the environment . TFA is a short chain perfluorinated chemical which has not been classified as of toxicological concern . However, there is ongoing and increasing emissions of TFA from anthropogenic sources, and its prevalence in the environment and risk to drinking water supplies needs to be better understood.

A recent research project, conducted by the German Federal Environment Agency (UBA) estimated that pesticides have the highest potential release of TFA into water bodies, which has been estimated at 434 tonnes per year . In addition, the recorded TFA levels in rainwater in Germany have increased fourfold in two decades . Although this information has been concluded using data from Germany, it is reasonable to assume that the situation is similar in other European countries, and the UK too.

There are not currently any regulations in place to identify and reduce the concentrations of TFA in the environment or drinking water supplies in England and Wales. However, the UBA has set a human health-based guideline value of 60 µg/L for TFA in drinking water and a "precautionary measure" of 10 µg/L, which is based on liver toxicity .

This project will provide a comparison between raw and treated water sources to give an indication on the effect of current water treatment processes on the removal or degradation of TFA and will consider the risk to drinking water quality.