Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID SC_2024_Richardson

How well does Total Organic Fluorine Reflect Total PFAS?

Institute: South Carolina
USGS Grant Number:
Year Established: 2024 Start Date: 2025-01-01 End Date: 2027-12-31
Total Federal Funds: $310,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $310,000

Principal Investigators: Susan D. Richardson

Project Summary: Total organic fluorine (TOF) has become an important tool to estimate total per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) in the environment. This is because there are approximately 15,000 PFAS reported in the environment, but target methods can only capture a small fraction (<100 compounds). However, a recognized drawback to this total PFAS estimation approach is that most TOF methods are non-selective (i.e., not PFAS specific) and other chemicals can also contain fluorine in their chemical structures. For example, many high-use pharmaceuticals like Prozac, Lipitor, and Ciprofloxacin, and pesticides like fipronil contain fluorine. Therefore, it is an open question regarding how much of the measured TOF is actually due to PFAS. Thus, the objective of this project is to determine how much of the TOF measured in surface waters across the U.S. is due to PFAS and how much is due to fluorine-containing pharmaceuticals and pesticides.