Exploring per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance distribution in Arctic wastewater treatment lagoons and natural wetlands: First record in Nunavik, Canada
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), as emerging and bioaccumulative contaminants, are widely present in water and wastewater systems. Municipal wastewater effluents serve as pathways for PFAS to enter aquatic environments. This study monitors the PFAS in wastewater treatment lagoons, nearby wetlands and bay in a Canadian Arctic community. Eight out of the 40 targeted PFAS were detected in samples collected from raw wastewater, wastewater treatment lagoons, natural wetlands, and Ungava bay. The total PFAS concentrations were in the ranges of 45.9–56.1 ng/L in wastewater treatment lagoons, 36.6–70.8 ng/L in natural wetlands and measured at 7.3 ng/L in the bay. The most prevalent and frequently detected PFAS were 6:2 FTS, PFHxA, and PFNA. At all sites, short-chain PFAS concentrations surpassed long-chain PFAS. Short-chain PFAS peaked at 267.01 ng/L (79.74%), while long-chain PFAS totaled 67.83 ng/L (20.26%). The estimated yearly mass flow rate of total PFAS into the environment through lagoon effluent was 2.33 g/year. The conducted environmental risk assessment for both the effluent of the wastewater treatment lagoons and the three downstream natural wetlands suggests that the risks associated with all PFAS under study posed minimal ecological risk, though long-term evaluation is needed. In conclusion, the findings of this research provide further information on PFAS pollution through wastewater in Arctic regions and may, as such, guide the development of comprehensive regulations to safeguard both human health and the environment, thereby mitigating potential future risks. • PFAS contaminants are widespread in water and wastewater systems. • Eight PFAS species were detected in Arctic wastewater, lagoons, wetlands, and bay. • PFAS concentrations reached the highest values in the wetlands, up to 70.8 ng/L. • At all sampling sites, short-chain PFAS dominated over long-chain PFAS. • Risk quotients suggest that the current ecological risk posed by PFAS is minimal.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.002 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.003 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".