Surface waters (rivers, including Ganges River water, lakes, coastal seas and untreated sewage; n=42) and biological samples collected from India were analyzed for PFC concentrations. PFOS was found to be the dominant PFC in most of the water samples except untreated sewage (water: <0.04-3.91 ng/L). The highest concentration of PFOA, 23.1 ng/L, was found in untreated sewage samples. No long-chain (C11-C18) perfluorocarboxylates were detected in the water samples. Livers from 15 Ganges River dolphins (Platanista gangetica) were also analyzed and PFOS was also the dominant PFC (27.9±3.87 (arithmetic mean ±S.E.) ng/g wet weight). Some long-chain PFCs such as PFDA (0.923±0.169 ng/g ww) and PFUnDA (0.998±0.172 ng/g ww) were found in the samples. Overall, concentrations of PFCs in water and dolphin samples from India are lower than the concentrations reported for other countries such as Japan and the U.S. PFC profiles in Indian waters are dominated by PFOS followed by PFOA, which differs from the pattern reported for other countries where PFOA was the predominant compound in waters. The percentage of PFC fluxes contributed to global emissions by the discharge of the Ganges River was estimated to be less than 0.03％.
YEUNG Leo W.Y. YAMASHITA Nobuyoshi TANIYASU Sachi LAM Paul K.S. SINHA Ravindra K. BOROLE Dnyandev V. KANNAN Kurunthachalam
Centre for Coastal Pollution and Conservation,Department of Biology and Chemistry,City University of National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST),16-1 Onogawa,Tsukuba,Ibaraki Centre for Coastal Pollution and Conservation,Department of Biology and Chemistry,City University of Environmental Biology Laboratory,Department of Zoology,Patna University,Patna 800 005 India Geological Oceanography Division,National Institute of Oceanography,Dona Paula,Goa Wadsworth Center,New York State Department of Health and Department of Environmental Health Sciences