Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Perchlorate in Tap Water, Groundwater, Surface Waters, and Bottled Water From China and its Association with Other Inorganic Anions and with Disinfection Byproducts

  • Published:
Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Perchlorate is a potent thyroid hormone–disrupting compound. Drinking water is one of the major sources of human exposure to perchlorate. Little is known about the occurrence of perchlorate in waters from China. In this study, water samples (n = 300) collected from 15 locations in 13 provinces and municipalities were analyzed for the presence of perchlorate. In addition, other inorganic anions that commonly occur in water—iodide, bromide, and nitrate—and the disinfection byproducts, bromate, chlorate, and chlorite were determined by high-performance liquid chromatography interfaced with tandem mass spectrometry. Perchlorate was detected in 86% of the samples analyzed, at concentrations ranging from <0.02 to 54.4 μg l−1 (mean ± SD 2.20 ± 6.39 μg l−1; median 0.62 μg l−1). Mean concentrations of perchlorate in tap water, groundwater, surface waters, and bottled water were 2.46, 3.04, 2.82, and 0.22 μg l−1, respectively. Significant positive correlations were found between the concentrations of perchlorate and nitrate, perchlorate and chlorate, bromide and iodide, and nitrate and iodide.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Blount BC, Valentin-Blasini L, Osterloh JD, Mauldin JP, Pirkle JL (2007) Perchlorate exposure of the US Population, 2001–2002. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 17:400–407

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dasgupta PK, Martinelango PK, Jackson WA, Anderson TA, Tian K, Tock RW et al (2005) The origin of naturally occurring perchlorate: the role of atmospheric processes. Environ Sci Technol 39:1569–1575

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kannan K, Praamsma ML, Oldi JF, Kunisue T, Sinha RK (2009) Occurrence of perchlorate in drinking water, groundwater, surface water and human saliva from India. Chemosphere 76:22–26

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirk AB, Smith EE, Tian K, Anderson TA, Dasgupta PK (2003) Perchlorate in milk. Environ Sci Technol 37:4979–4981

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kirk AB, Martinelango PK, Tian K, Dutta A, Smith EE, Dasgupta PK (2005) Perchlorate and iodide in dairy and breast milk. Environ Sci Technol 39:2011–2017

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kosaka K, Asami M, Matsuoka Y, Kamoshita M, Kunikane S (2007) Occurrence of perchlorate in drinking water sources of metropolitan area in Japan. Water Res 41:3474–3482

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Li FX, Byrd DM, Deyhle GM, Sesser DE, Skeels MR, Katkowsky SR et al (2000) Neonatal thyroid-stimulating hormone level and perchlorate in drinking water. Teratology 62:429–431

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Murray CW, Egan SK, Kim H, Beru N, Bolger PM (2008) United States Food and Drug Administration’s Total Diet Study: dietary intake of perchlorate and iodine. J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol 18:571–580

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oldi JF, Kannan K (2009a) Analysis of perchlorate in human saliva by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Environ Sci Technol 43:142–147

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Oldi JF, Kannan K (2009b) Perchlorate in human blood serum and plasma: relationship to concentrations in saliva. Chemosphere 77:43–47

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parker DR, Seyfferth AL, Reese BK (2008) Perchlorate in groundwater: a synoptic survey of “pristine” sites in the coterminous United States. Environ Sci Technol 42:1465–1471

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Quinones O, Oh JE, Vanderford B, Kim JH, Cho J, Snyder SA (2007) Perchlorate assessment of the Nakdong and Yeongsan watersheds, Republic of Korea. Environ Toxicol Chem 26:1349–1354

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez CA, Blount BC, Valentin-Blasini L, Lesch SM, Krieger RI (2008) Perchlorate in the feed-dairy continuum of the southwestern United States. J Agric Food Chem 56:5443–5450

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Shi Y, Zhang P, Wang Y, Shi J, Cai Y, Mou S et al (2007) Perchlorate in sewage sludge, rice, bottled water and milk collected from different areas in China. Environ Int 33:955–962

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Snyder SA, Vanderford BJ, Rexing DJ (2005) Trace analysis of bromate, chlorate, iodate, and perchlorate in natural and bottled waters. Environ Sci Technol 39:4586–4593

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Urbansky ET (1998) Perchlorate chemistry: implications for analysis and remediation. Bioremediation J 2:81–95

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Urbansky ET, Brown SK, Magnuson ML, Kelty CA (2001) Perchlorate levels in samples of sodium nitrate fertilizer derived from Chilean caliche. Environ Pollut 112:299–302

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency (1998) Drinking water contaminant list. EPA Document No. 815-F-98-002. GPO, Washington, DC

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency (2004) Available at: http://www.epa.gov/fedfac/pdf/known_perchlorate_releases_in_the_us_09_23_2004.pdf. Accessed November 2009

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency (2005a) Available at: http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/b1ab9f485b098972852562e7004dc686/c1a57d2077c4bfda85256fac005b8b32!opendocument. Accessed November 2009

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency (2005b) Available at: http://www.epa.gov/fedfac/pdf/stateadvisorylevels.pdf. Accessed November 2009

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency (2008) Interim drinking water health advisory for perchlorate. Health and Ecological Criteria Division, Office of Science and Technology, Office of Water, US Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460. http://www.epa.gov/waterscience. EPA 822-R-08-025. Available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/unregulated/perchlorate.html. Accessed November 2009

  • United States Environmental Protection Agency (2009) Available at: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/contaminants/index.html. Accessed November 2009

  • Wolff J (1998) Perchlorate and the thyroid gland. Pharmacol Rev 50:89–105

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health. We gratefully acknowledge the MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Nankai University (Tianjin, China); the classes of F0316101 and F0316102 of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Shanghai, China); and Ying Guo and Honglei Tang for supporting sampling across China.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, USA

    Qian Wu, Tao Zhang & Kurunthachalam Kannan

  2. Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, State University of New York at Albany, Albany, NY, 12201-0509, USA

    Qian Wu, Tao Zhang & Kurunthachalam Kannan

  3. MOE Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China

    Tao Zhang & Hongwen Sun

  4. State Key Laboratory of Urban Water Resources & Environment, International Joint Research Center for Persistent Toxic Substances, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150090, China

    Kurunthachalam Kannan

Authors
  1. Qian Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Tao Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hongwen Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kurunthachalam Kannan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kurunthachalam Kannan.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wu, Q., Zhang, T., Sun, H. et al. Perchlorate in Tap Water, Groundwater, Surface Waters, and Bottled Water From China and its Association with Other Inorganic Anions and with Disinfection Byproducts. Arch Environ Contam Toxicol 58, 543–550 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-010-9485-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00244-010-9485-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation