A Toxic Legacy? : A Study of PFAS Leakage from Landfills in the Eastern Part of Mälaren

Sammanfattning: The growing concern around per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and their negative health and environmental effects have lately become more apparent which also is reflected in the new, more strict regulations of permitted levels of PFAS in drinking water extracted from water resources. However, many point sources of PFAS pollution to the environment and to water resources are still not identified and assessed for risk. This is also the case around the Mälaren-Görväln which is used as a drinking water resource. Work has been initiated to map sources of PFAS pollution to the water resource. However, hitherto, the risk of PFAS pollution from landfills surrounding the water intake is under-studied. This thesis has thus tried to address the issue by investigating landfills’ potential PFAS contribution to Mälaren-Görväln water body. Active and inactive landfills which are located within the Östra Mälaren water protection area have been researched. Furthermore, field sampling and measurements of PFAS in surface water have been conducted in connection with three landfills within the water protection area and in Brobäcken. Data from the Högbytorp facility which incorporates three landfills has also been used for comparison. The PFAS load from the landfills to Mälaren-Görväln has been estimated. Lastly a principal component analysis (PCA) has been carried out to trace the sources of sampled PFAS levels. The research of landfills located within the water protection area, led to identification of 32 different landfills of which almost all are believed to be inactive. All field samples taken in connection to Skå, Svartsjö and Johannelund landfill indicated levels of PFAS. The levels detected were lower than the levels measured downstream Högbytorp and in Brobäcken. At all sampling locations, including downstream Högbytorp and excluding the sample by Svartsjö, the levels detected exceed at least one current guiding and soon to be limiting value. The estimated mass flows of PFAS received at the sampling locations showed that landfills can potentially account for a considerable share of the estimated loads to Mälaren-Görväln. However, the results should be interpreted with caution due to the small dataset analysed and as it proved to be difficult to determine specifically the landfills’ share of the PFAS concentrations detected as the other potential sources of PFAS can have an influence on the sampled surface water. It remains to carry out a more in-depth risk assessment of the landfills' potential impact on Mälaren-Görväln where, among other things, PFAS pollution to the soil and groundwater are included. Further, more research of all identified landfills is needed to estimate the cumulative potential impact of landfills’ PFAS load to Mälaren-Görväln and the extracted drinking water.