Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging organic pollutants widely detected in environmental systems, posing risks to human health and the ecosystem. Despite increasing efforts to monitor PFAS in river systems, knowledge gaps remain regarding sources and emissions via different pathways. This study investigates PFAS contamination across multiple environmental compartments in the Upper Danube Basin, including surface water, groundwater, wastewater, landfill leachate, surface runoff, and atmospheric deposition. The primary objectives are to assess the extent of PFAS contamination, identify key emission sources and transport pathways, and evaluate associated risks in terms of the potential exceedance of current and proposed environmental regulatory thresholds in the European Union.
ResultsThe findings reveal a widespread presence of PFAS, with PFOA, PFOS and short-chain compounds being predominant. The Alz River and Gendorf chemical park emerge as hotspots with far-reaching effects downstream, contributing significantly to diffuse legacy contamination of PFOA and being a significant source of two industrial PFOA substitutes, ADONA and GenX. Wastewater treatment plants, old municipal landfills, and sites with a history of fire-fighting foam application are identified as key pathways or sources of legacy pollution, exhibiting higher concentrations compared to the other matrices. Notably, no significant removal is observed when comparing influent and effluent samples from conventional WWTPs. The study further demonstrates that groundwater is vulnerable to contamination from point sources and to infiltration from rivers, with bank filtration proving largely ineffective in preventing PFAS contamination.
ConclusionsThe study underscores the necessity for source and pathway control measures to mitigate PFAS pollution, the implementation of advanced treatment technologies to safeguard drinking water and surface water quality, and targeted remediation for legacy soil and groundwater contamination. Additionally, strong use regulations should be explored to minimize ongoing emissions. The multi-compartment monitoring proves to be a crucial approach to understand the complexity of PFAS distribution at the catchment scale. Comparative analysis and risk assessment highlight challenging situations for water management, offering an indispensable basis for emission modeling as a next step for quantitative assessment of the relevance of different sources and pathways for surface water pollution.
", "keywords": ["Emerging contaminants", "Emerging Pollutants", "PFAS", "Source identification", "Watershed management", "Environmental sciences", "Emission", "Water Framework Directive", "Environmental law", "Water pollution", "GE1-350", "K3581-3598", "Catchment monitoring", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.1186/s12302-025-01141-6"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Sciences%20Europe", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.1186/s12302-025-01141-6", "name": "item", "description": "10.1186/s12302-025-01141-6", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.1186/s12302-025-01141-6"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2025-06-15T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.14027088", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-08-24T16:20:17Z", "type": "Dataset", "created": "2024-11-01", "title": "Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Concentrations in the Upper Danube Catchment: Integrated Dataset from H2020 Project PROMISCES - Case Study 2", "description": "Dataset Description This dataset was produced within the framework of\u00a0Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Project PROMISCES (Preventing Recalcitrant Organic Mobile Industrial chemicalS for Circular Economy in the Soil-sediment-water system). Project website: https://promisces.eu/ The dataset contains information on the environmental concentrations of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) collected as part of the PROMISCES project's Case Study #2,\u00a0Subtask 2.2.4 \u2013 Large catchment scale monitoring in different environmental compartments. It also includes data gathered from various external sources. Abstract PFASs are a group of synthetic chemicals widely used in various household and industrial applications (Gl\u00fcge et al., 2020). Due to their high chemical stability, PFASs are resistant to natural degradation processes, leading to their accumulation in different environmental matrices and ultimately posing potential health risks to humans (Sunderland et al., 2019). PROMISCES CS#2 focused on understading the fate and transport of PFASs in the upper Danube catchment, covering the Danube from its source to the city of Budapest. Over approximately 1.5 years, a comprehensive monitoring campaign was conducted in this study area, across multiple environmental compartments:\u00a0 Atmopsheric Deposition:\u00a0 River water: including Danube mainstream and its tributaries. Groundwater: including bank-filtered water from the Danube, and groundwater directly influenced by the landfills Landfill leachate Surface Runoff Wastewater: Influent and effluent from municipal waterwater treatment plants (WWTPs) and direct industrial dischargers Particularly, the case study placed a special focus on the Danube and its bank filtration sites at two major cities in the Upper Danube, Vienna and Budapest. The dataset primarily consists results from targeted analysis of 32 individual PFAS substances. In addition, available data for these 32 PFASs in the study area were collected from various online resources or provided directly by project partners. For confidentiality reasons, some external data have been anonymized on names and locations.\u00a0 Partial of this dataset have already contributed to a 2023 publication (Liu et al.), which was based on preliminary data before the completion of the full monitoring campaign and external data collection. The full dataset was analysed and discussed in the publication Liu et al. (2025): https://www.doi.org/10.1186/s12302-025-01141-6 Technical Details This dataset includes: A Zip file containing .accdb Microsoft Access database A ZIP file containing .csv files structured to match the database Notice that the .accdb version is out of maintance and removed in version 3.0. The only changes compared to version 2.0 was the substance short-names for two compounds: substance with CAS number 2355-31-9 updated from \u201cMeFOSAA\u201d to \u201cN-MeFOSAA\u201d substance with CAS number 2991-50-6 updated from \u201cEtFOSAA\u201d to \u201cN-EtFOSAA Database structure One query is created to show most important information: Concentrations_PFAS: contains all PFAS concentration data.\u00a0 In addition, tables were provided with more infomation on the metadata: Table1_measurements: concentrations data with units, values, limit of quantifications (LOQs); keys indicating relationships with other tables. Table2_samplings: sample codes, sampling times (if available), sampling type, sampling techniques; key indicating relationships with Table7_analytical_methods. Table3_samples: sample names, sample sites, coordinates and coordinate systems (if available). Table4_compartments: sample matrices/compartments, more detailed sample types. Table5_compounds: CAS numbers, substance short names, Sus Dat IDs, substance names in NORMAN database, substance group short names and long names. Table6_datasources: data source names, organisations, countries, references, links. Table7_analytical_methods: laboratories, preparation methods, analytical methods, analytical method standards. References Gl\u00fcge, J., Scheringer M., Cousins I., DeWitt J., Goldenman G., Herzke D., Lohmann R., Ng A., Trier X., Wang Z (2020) An Overview of the Uses of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 12. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EM00291G Liu, M., Saracevic, E., Kittlaus, S., Oudega, T., Obeid, A., Nagy-Kov\u00e1cs, Z., L\u00e1szl\u00f3, B., Krlovic, N., Saracevic, Z., Lindner, G., Rab, R., Derx, J., Zoboli, O., Zessner, M. (2023) PFAS-Belastungen im Einzugsgebiet der oberen Donau. \u00d6sterr Wasser- und Abfallw 75, 503\u2013514 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00506-023-00973-x\u00a0 Sunderland, Elsie M., Xindi C. Hu, Clifton Dassuncao, Andrea K. Tokranov, Charlotte C. Wagner, and Joseph G. Allen. (2019) A Review of the Pathways of Human Exposure to Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) and Present Understanding of Health Effects. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 29, no. 2 : 131\u201347. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-018-0094-1", "keywords": ["Water management", "Environmental sciences", "water pollution", "emerging pollutants", "PFAS", "hazardous substances", "Danube", "water quality", "Pollution", "environmental monitoring"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Liu, Meiqi", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14027088"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.14027088", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.14027088", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.14027088"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-11-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.15680931", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"updated": "2026-08-24T16:20:41Z", "type": "Journal Article", "created": "2025-06-15", "title": "Investigating the extent of PFAS contamination in the Upper Danube Basin across environmental compartments", "description": "Abstract BackgroundPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging organic pollutants widely detected in environmental systems, posing risks to human health and the ecosystem. Despite increasing efforts to monitor PFAS in river systems, knowledge gaps remain regarding sources and emissions via different pathways. This study investigates PFAS contamination across multiple environmental compartments in the Upper Danube Basin, including surface water, groundwater, wastewater, landfill leachate, surface runoff, and atmospheric deposition. The primary objectives are to assess the extent of PFAS contamination, identify key emission sources and transport pathways, and evaluate associated risks in terms of the potential exceedance of current and proposed environmental regulatory thresholds in the European Union.
ResultsThe findings reveal a widespread presence of PFAS, with PFOA, PFOS and short-chain compounds being predominant. The Alz River and Gendorf chemical park emerge as hotspots with far-reaching effects downstream, contributing significantly to diffuse legacy contamination of PFOA and being a significant source of two industrial PFOA substitutes, ADONA and GenX. Wastewater treatment plants, old municipal landfills, and sites with a history of fire-fighting foam application are identified as key pathways or sources of legacy pollution, exhibiting higher concentrations compared to the other matrices. Notably, no significant removal is observed when comparing influent and effluent samples from conventional WWTPs. The study further demonstrates that groundwater is vulnerable to contamination from point sources and to infiltration from rivers, with bank filtration proving largely ineffective in preventing PFAS contamination.
ConclusionsThe study underscores the necessity for source and pathway control measures to mitigate PFAS pollution, the implementation of advanced treatment technologies to safeguard drinking water and surface water quality, and targeted remediation for legacy soil and groundwater contamination. Additionally, strong use regulations should be explored to minimize ongoing emissions. The multi-compartment monitoring proves to be a crucial approach to understand the complexity of PFAS distribution at the catchment scale. Comparative analysis and risk assessment highlight challenging situations for water management, offering an indispensable basis for emission modeling as a next step for quantitative assessment of the relevance of different sources and pathways for surface water pollution.
", "keywords": ["Emerging contaminants", "Emerging Pollutants", "PFAS", "Source identification", "Watershed management", "Environmental sciences", "Emission", "Water Framework Directive", "Environmental law", "Water pollution", "GE1-350", "K3581-3598", "Catchment monitoring", "Environmental Monitoring"]}, "links": [{"href": "https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12302-025-01141-6.pdf"}, {"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15680931"}, {"rel": "related", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/Environmental%20Sciences%20Europe", "name": "related record", "description": "related record", "type": "application/json"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.15680931", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.15680931", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.15680931"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2025-06-15T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10.5281/zenodo.15474678", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"license": "Open Access", "updated": "2026-08-24T16:20:37Z", "type": "Dataset", "created": "2024-11-01", "title": "Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) Concentrations in the Upper Danube Catchment: Integrated Dataset from H2020 Project PROMISCES - Case Study 2", "description": "Dataset Description This dataset was produced within the framework of\u00a0Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, Project PROMISCES (Preventing Recalcitrant Organic Mobile Industrial chemicalS for Circular Economy in the Soil-sediment-water system). Project website: https://promisces.eu/ The dataset contains information on the environmental concentrations of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) collected as part of the PROMISCES project's Case Study #2,\u00a0Subtask 2.2.4 \u2013 Large catchment scale monitoring in different environmental compartments. It also includes data gathered from various external sources. Abstract PFASs are a group of synthetic chemicals widely used in various household and industrial applications (Gl\u00fcge et al., 2020). Due to their high chemical stability, PFASs are resistant to natural degradation processes, leading to their accumulation in different environmental matrices and ultimately posing potential health risks to humans (Sunderland et al., 2019). PROMISCES CS#2 focused on understading the fate and transport of PFASs in the upper Danube catchment, covering the Danube from its source to the city of Budapest. Over approximately 1.5 years, a comprehensive monitoring campaign was conducted in this study area, across multiple environmental compartments:\u00a0 Atmopsheric Deposition:\u00a0 River water: including Danube mainstream and its tributaries. Groundwater: including bank-filtered water from the Danube, and groundwater directly influenced by the landfills Landfill leachate Surface Runoff Wastewater: Influent and effluent from municipal waterwater treatment plants (WWTPs) and direct industrial dischargers Particularly, the case study placed a special focus on the Danube and its bank filtration sites at two major cities in the Upper Danube, Vienna and Budapest. The dataset primarily consists results from targeted analysis of 32 individual PFAS substances. In addition, available data for these 32 PFASs in the study area were collected from various online resources or provided directly by project partners. For confidentiality reasons, some external data have been anonymized on names and locations.\u00a0 Partial of this dataset have already contributed to a 2023 publication (Liu et al.), which was based on preliminary data before the completion of the full monitoring campaign and external data collection. The full dataset was analysed and discussed in the publication Liu et al. (2025): https://www.doi.org/10.1186/s12302-025-01141-6 Technical Details This dataset includes: A Zip file containing .accdb Microsoft Access database A ZIP file containing .csv files structured to match the database Notice that the .accdb version is out of maintance and removed in version 3.0. The only changes compared to version 2.0 was the substance short-names for two compounds: substance with CAS number 2355-31-9 updated from \u201cMeFOSAA\u201d to \u201cN-MeFOSAA\u201d substance with CAS number 2991-50-6 updated from \u201cEtFOSAA\u201d to \u201cN-EtFOSAA Database structure One query is created to show most important information: Concentrations_PFAS: contains all PFAS concentration data.\u00a0 In addition, tables were provided with more infomation on the metadata: Table1_measurements: concentrations data with units, values, limit of quantifications (LOQs); keys indicating relationships with other tables. Table2_samplings: sample codes, sampling times (if available), sampling type, sampling techniques; key indicating relationships with Table7_analytical_methods. Table3_samples: sample names, sample sites, coordinates and coordinate systems (if available). Table4_compartments: sample matrices/compartments, more detailed sample types. Table5_compounds: CAS numbers, substance short names, Sus Dat IDs, substance names in NORMAN database, substance group short names and long names. Table6_datasources: data source names, organisations, countries, references, links. Table7_analytical_methods: laboratories, preparation methods, analytical methods, analytical method standards. References Gl\u00fcge, J., Scheringer M., Cousins I., DeWitt J., Goldenman G., Herzke D., Lohmann R., Ng A., Trier X., Wang Z (2020) An Overview of the Uses of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 12. https://doi.org/10.1039/D0EM00291G Liu, M., Saracevic, E., Kittlaus, S., Oudega, T., Obeid, A., Nagy-Kov\u00e1cs, Z., L\u00e1szl\u00f3, B., Krlovic, N., Saracevic, Z., Lindner, G., Rab, R., Derx, J., Zoboli, O., Zessner, M. (2023) PFAS-Belastungen im Einzugsgebiet der oberen Donau. \u00d6sterr Wasser- und Abfallw 75, 503\u2013514 . https://doi.org/10.1007/s00506-023-00973-x\u00a0 Sunderland, Elsie M., Xindi C. Hu, Clifton Dassuncao, Andrea K. Tokranov, Charlotte C. Wagner, and Joseph G. Allen. (2019) A Review of the Pathways of Human Exposure to Poly- and Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) and Present Understanding of Health Effects. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology 29, no. 2 : 131\u201347. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41370-018-0094-1", "keywords": ["Water management", "Environmental sciences", "water pollution", "emerging pollutants", "PFAS", "hazardous substances", "Danube", "water quality", "Pollution", "environmental monitoring"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Liu, Meiqi", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15474678"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10.5281/zenodo.15474678", "name": "item", "description": "10.5281/zenodo.15474678", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10.5281/zenodo.15474678"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2024-11-01T00:00:00Z"}}, {"id": "10234/136665", "type": "Feature", "geometry": null, "properties": {"license": "Open Access", "updated": "2026-08-24T16:21:46Z", "type": "Report", "title": "Eliminaci\u00f3n de contaminantes emergentes en aguas residuales mediante oxidaci\u00f3n avanzada con ozono y ultrasonidos", "description": "Algunos contaminantes emergentes, principalmente f\u00e1rmacos de diferentes clases as\u00ed como drogas de abuso, pueden estar presentes en las aguas residuales urbanas, no siendo posible su eliminaci\u00f3n mediante las t\u00e9cnicas convencionales de depuraci\u00f3n. Se ha realizado un estudio en planta piloto en dos estaciones depuradoras de aguas residuales (EDAR), Font de la Pedra (Muro de Alcoy) y Molina de Segura (Murcia), con el fin de determinar la eficacia de eliminaci\u00f3n de ciertos contaminantes emergentes mediante un tratamiento terciario de oxidaci\u00f3n avanzada con ozono. Removal of emerging pollutants in sewage water subjected to advanced oxidation with ozone and ultrasound Emergent pollutants, mainly pharmaceuticals from different therapeutically classes and drugs of abuse, can be presents in urban sewage water, being not effective removed through conventional sewage water treatments. The objectives of this study, conducted at a modular mobile pilot plant in two different WWTP: Font de la Pedra STP (Muro de Alcoy) and Molina de Segura STP (Murcia), were the determination and the comparison between the removal efficiency of those contaminants through the conventional sewage water treatments, and with a tertiary treatment applied consisting on Advanced oxidation processes (AOP) based on ozone treatments, and ultrasounds.", "keywords": ["ozone", "advanced oxidation process", "Emerging pollutants", "ultrasound", "oxidaci\u00f3n avanzada", "ultrasonidos", "sewage water", "Contaminantes emergentes", "agua residual", "ozono"], "contacts": [{"organization": "Abell\u00e1n Soler, Manuel, Lard\u00edn Mifsut, Carlos, Morales Cavero, Eduardo, Pastor Alca\u00f1iz, Laura, Mart\u00ednez Muro, Juan Luis, Santos Asensi, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda, Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez, Maria, Hernandez, Felix,", "roles": ["creator"]}]}, "links": [{"href": "https://doi.org/10234/136665"}, {"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "10234/136665", "name": "item", "description": "10234/136665", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items/10234/136665"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection", "name": "collection", "description": "Collection", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main"}], "time": {"date": "2013-01-01T00:00:00Z"}}], "links": [{"rel": "self", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "This document as GeoJSON", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Emerging+Pollutants&f=json", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "alternate", "type": "text/html", "title": "This document as HTML", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Emerging+Pollutants&f=html", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "collection", "type": "application/json", "title": "Collection URL", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"type": "application/geo+json", "rel": "first", "title": "items (first)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Emerging+Pollutants&", "hreflang": "en-US"}, {"rel": "last", "type": "application/geo+json", "title": "items (last)", "href": "https://repository.soilwise-he.eu/cat/collections/metadata:main/items?keywords=Emerging+Pollutants&offset=5", "hreflang": "en-US"}], "numberMatched": 5, "numberReturned": 5, "distributedFeatures": [], "timeStamp": "2026-08-25T04:22:42.768289Z"}