Water quality standards for PFOA A proposal in accordance with the methodology of the Water Framework Directive RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 E.M.J. Verbruggen | P.N.H. Wassenaar | C.E. Smit Water quality standards for PFOA A proposal in accordance with the methodology of the Water Framework Directive RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 E.M.J. Verbruggen | P.N.H. Wassenaar | C.E. Smit RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 Colophon © RIVM 2017 Parts of this publication may be reproduced, provided acknowledgement is given to: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, along with the title and year of publication. DOI 10.21945/RIVM-2017-0044 E.M.J. Verbruggen (author), RIVM P.N.H. Wassenaar (author), RIVM C.E. Smit (author), RIVM Contact: Els Smit Centrum voor Veiligheid van Stoffen en Producten [email protected] This investigation has been performed by order and for the account of Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment, within the framework of 'Chemical water quality, standard setting and priority substances directive' This is a publication of: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment P.O. Box 1 | 3720 BA Bilthoven The Netherlands www.rivm.nl/en Page 2 of 137 RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 Synopsis Water quality standards for PFOA A proposal in accordance with the methodology of the Water Framework Directive RIVM proposes water quality standards for PFOA. This perfluoro compound has been used for the production of teflon and is found in many surface waters around the world. The quality standard for chronic exposure accounts for the accumulation of PFOA in fish. Using this information, RIVM calculated a safe concentration in water of 48 nanograms per liter, which is protective for lifetime consumption of fish by humans and wildlife. For this research an extensive overview was made of the scientific data on effects of PFOA on aquatic organisms and the accumulation in biota. Based on the oral risk limit for humans as derived recently by RIVM, a maximum allowable concentration in fish was calculated assuming a lifetime daily consumption. This biota standard is converted to an equivalent safe concentration in water using information on the uptake of PFOA from water by fish. Data on bioaccumulation are needed because the water quality standard for ecological effects on aquatic organisms is not sufficiently protective for food chain effects. PFOA has a relatively low toxicity for water organisms, but may pose a problem when entering the food chain via fish. The use of PFOA is restricted by European law, but it can still reach the environment from PFOA-containing products that were produced in the past. Because of its high persistence, emissions will lead to long term presence in the environment. An initial comparison with monitoring data indicates that the safe concentration derived in this research is not exceeded in Dutch surface waters. Keywords: PFOA; water quality standards; perfluoro compounds Page 3 of 137 RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 Page 4 of 137 RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 Publiekssamenvatting Waterkwaliteitsnormen voor PFOA Een voorstel volgens de methodiek van de Kaderrichtlijn Water Het RIVM doet een voorstel voor waterkwaliteitsnormen voor PFOA. Deze perfluorverbinding is jarenlang gebruikt bij de productie van teflon en wordt overal ter wereld in het oppervlaktewater aangetroffen. De norm voor de langetermijn-blootstelling houdt rekening met de mate waarin PFOA zich ophoopt in vis. Met die informatie heeft het RIVM berekend dat een concentratie van 48 nanogram per liter veilig is als mensen, vogels en zoogdieren hun leven lang vis uit dat water zouden eten. Voor dit onderzoek is een uitgebreid overzicht gemaakt van wat er in de wetenschappelijke literatuur bekend is over de effecten van PFOA op waterorganismen en in welke mate ze deze stof opnemen. In eerder onderzoek heeft het RIVM bepaald hoeveel een mens van de stof zou mogen binnenkrijgen zonder daar schadelijke gevolgen van te ondervinden. Vervolgens is berekend wat er maximaal in vis zou mogen zitten als mensen elke dag gedurende hun hele leven vis zouden eten. Deze waarde in vis is vertaald naar een veilige concentratie in water. Dit is gedaan met behulp van gegevens over de mate waarin vissen PFOA opnemen vanuit het water. Deze werkwijze is gevolgd omdat de voedselketen onvoldoende wordt beschermd door de ecologische norm voor waterorganismen. PFOA is relatief weinig giftig voor waterorganismen zelf, maar kan een probleem vormen als de stof via vis in de voedselketen terechtkomt. Het gebruik van PFOA is in Europa inmiddels aan banden gelegd, maar kan nog wel vrijkomen uit producten waarin de stof in het verleden is verwerkt. Omdat PFOA nauwelijks afbreekt, zullen restanten nog lang in het milieu aanwezig blijven. Uit een eerste vergelijking met meetgegevens blijkt echter dat de veilige concentratie momenteel niet wordt overschreden in Nederlands oppervlaktewater. Kernwoorden: PFOA; waterkwaliteitsnormen; perfluorverbindingen Page 5 of 137 RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 Page 6 of 137 RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 Contents 1 Introduction — 11 1.1 Context of the report — 11 1.2 Standards considered — 11 1.3 Methodology — 13 1.3.1 General remarks — 13 1.3.2 Derivation of the QSwater, hh food — 13 1.3.3 Derivation of the QSfw, secpois and QSsw, secpois — 15 1.3.4 Derivation of the QSeco and MAC-QSeco for direct ecotoxicity — 20 2 Information on the substance — 23 2.1 Identity and physico-chemical properties — 23 2.2 Behaviour in the environment — 24 2.2.1 General remarks — 24 2.2.2 Persistence and mobility — 25 2.2.3 Partitioning to sediment — 25 3 Bioconcentration, bioaccumulation and food chain transfer — 27 3.1 General remarks — 27 3.2 Laboratory studies — 27 3.3 Field bioaccumulation data — 31 3.3.1 Overview of field bioaccumulation studies — 31 3.4 Mechanism of accumulation — 37 3.5 Selection of BAF values — 38 3.5.1 Slope determined on all data per taxonomic group — 38 3.5.2 Generic slope based on data for individual species 41 3.5.3 Comparison of both methods and choice for final method — 43 3.6 Trophic magnification in plankton, invertebrates and fish — 50 3.7 Biomagnification in the marine food chain — 51 3.8 Selection of biomagnification parameters — 56 4 Derivation of human-health based quality standards — 59 4.1 Human toxicological risk limit — 59 4.2 Quality standard for drinking water abstraction — 59 4.3 Quality standard for human fish consumption — 59 5 Derivation of quality standards for secondary poisoning — 61 5.1 Effects on birds and mammals — 61 5.2 Derivation of the QSbiota, secpois — 63 5.3 Derivation of the QSfw, secpois and QSsw, secpois — 64 6 Derivation of quality standards for direct ecotoxicity — 65 6.1 Ecotoxicological effect data — 65 6.1.1 Laboratory toxicity data — 65 6.1.2 Microcosm studies — 68 6.2 Pooling of freshwater and marine effect data — 71 6.3 Derivation of the MAC-EQSeco — 72 6.3.1 AF approach — 72 6.3.2 Species Sensitivity Distributions — 72 6.3.3 Conclusions on the MAC-EQS — 74 6.4 Derivation of the AA-QSeco — 74 Page 7 of 137 RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 7 Discussion and conclusions — 77 Acknowledgements — 79 References — 81 Annex 1. Summary of bioconcentration studies with fish and bivalves — 91 Annex 2. Summary of field bioaccumulation studies — 95 Annex 3. Detailed bird and mammal toxicity data — 122 Annex 4. Detailed aquatic ecotoxicity data — 127 Page 8 of 137 RIVM Letter report 2017-0044 Summary In this report a proposal is made for environmental quality standards (EQS) for perfluoro octanoic acid (PFOA) in surface water. PFOA is subject of public debate because of emissions from a teflon production plant at Dordrecht, the Netherlands. Environmental quality standards for surface water have not been derived to date, but are needed to evaluate the impact of emissions on water quality and to decide on further regulatory actions. The derivation of quality standards is in accordance with the methodology of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD). EQS aim at the protection of the aquatic ecosystem, including predatory birds and mammals feeding on water organisms, and the protection of human health. The standards with regard to human health should ensure that water quality is sufficient to protect against adverse effects of consuming contaminated fish products. From existing evaluations it is known that PFOA has a relatively low toxicity for water organisms, but may pose a problem when entering the food chain via fish. Based on the recently derived oral risk limit for humans, it is expected that human fish consumption is the critical route in the case of PFOA. Therefore, the research was focused on deriving human health based quality standards for fish consumption. Using the oral risk limit for humans, a concentration in fish was calculated considered not to have a negative impact on human health. To convert this biota-based standard to an equivalent concentration in water, data on the bioaccumulation of PFOA in fish and other aquatic organisms were collected from the literature, including laboratory data as well as field monitoring studies. From the results it can be concluded that bioaccumulation is highly variable, even within taxonomically related species. For both fish and bivalves, there is rather strong evidence that this variation is related to the fact that the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) is dependent on the exposure concentration. Therefore, the bioaccumulation data were used to establish a concentration-bioaccumulation relationship. From this relationship, a safe concentration in water of 48 ng/L is derived. This value is protective for lifetime consumption of fish by humans, birds and mammals and for direct ecotoxicity to aquatic organisms. It is also protective for intake of surface water for production of drinking water.