PFAS Analysis of Home Tap Water
02 April 2024 | 2 min read
The Survey
We have been asked a number of times by our colleagues what the levels of PFAS are in our household tap water. In order to assess this, we decided to allow our staff to take home a PFAS testing kit, which consists of a certified clean HDPE sampling bottle with the instruction to run their tap for 2-3 minutes and then take a sample of water and return it to our laboratory, so that we could analyse it by our accredited tap water method.
Our UKAS accredited method includes 54 PFAS chemicals, including the UK DWI guidance list of 47 PFAS. The results of this unofficial survey are summarised below for the first set of samples returned. Over the next few months, we will be posting further results as we expand the survey across a wider geographical area and possibly further afield across our global network of offices.
Home Tap Water Concentration, ng/L using UKAS accredited method
Please note that these results account for PFAS sampled from water directly within household taps and may include contribution of PFAS from the household plumbing system and not just the water supplied from the mains.
The results
The results have been classified according to current UK tiered guidance values based on Total PFAS and more detail has been provided in the attached spreadsheet to show how this relates to the US EPA enforceable limits and the European Union Proposed Limits.
As you will see are all very different in terms of the PFAS targeted and the thresholds which are deemed acceptable. So far we are consistently finding the same 11 PFAS chemicals in tap water and it will be interesting to see how this differs across the UK and further afield.
Our expertise
| PFAS chemical detected form a list of 54 targets | Home Tap Water Concentration, ng/L using UKAS accredited method | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sample 1 | Sample 2 | Sample 3 | Sample 4 | Sample 5 | Sample 6 | Sample 7 | Sample 8 | Sample 9 | Sample 10 | Sample 11 | Sample 12 | Sample 13 | Sample 14 | Sample 15 | Sample 16 | Sample 17 | Sample 18 | Sample 19 | Sample 20 | ||
| 6:2 FTAB | 3.88 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 6:2 FTSA | 2.64 | 0.57 | |||||||||||||||||||
| branched-PFOS | 1.96 | 2.34 | 2.08 | 13.75 | 1.73 | 3.44 | 2.65 | 1.31 | |||||||||||||
| linear-PFOS | 1.72 | 1.71 | 1.22 | 14.17 | 1.44 | 3.73 | 2.34 | ||||||||||||||
| PFBA | 5.82 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PFBS | 6.85 | 4.34 | 3.94 | 1.53 | 3.64 | 3.35 | 1.75 | 2.28 | 0.88 | 1.28 | |||||||||||
| HFPO-TA | 2.80 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| PFECHS | 5.35 | 0.53 | |||||||||||||||||||
| PFHpA | 2.40 | 2.34 | 2.89 | 1.28 | 3.23 | 2.63 | 0.95 | 1.22 | |||||||||||||
| PFHxA | 6.35 | 4.29 | 5.04 | 2.78 | 5.85 | 6.53 | 2.82 | 2.66 | |||||||||||||
| PFHxS | 2.02 | 2.66 | 1.92 | 8.98 | 2.13 | 2.70 | 2.11 | 0.96 | 0.86 | ||||||||||||
| PFOA | 2.36 | 3.36 | 2.57 | 1.57 | 2.53 | 2.64 | 1.63 | 1.27 | 2.80 | ||||||||||||
| PFPeA | 5.37 | 5.01 | 5.62 | 2.31 | 4.45 | 7.15 | 2.80 | 1.90 | |||||||||||||
| TOTAL PFAS | 29.04 | N/D | 26.04 | 25.27 | 51.72 | 28.88 | 41.17 | 17.62 | 11.61 | N/D | N/D | 0.88 | N/D | 2.80 | 4.94 | N/D | N/D | N/D | N/D | N/D | |