OCCURRENCE AND DISTRIBUTION OF EMERGING POLLUTANTS PERFLUOROALKYL AND POLYFLUOROALKYL SUBSTANCES (PFASS) IN THE AQUATIC ECOSYSTEM OF INDIA

Recent advancement in water quality assessment and remediation technologies has led to the identification of trace amounts of emerging contaminants of anthropogenic origin. The presence and toxicity of these compounds in each environmental niche (i.e. air, water, soil) has been identified as a major health concern throughout the world. Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been identified as one such class of ubiquitous, non-degradable, persistent organic pollutants (Kaboré et al., 2018). However, till date, India has no environmental quality standards and specific guidelines for the management of these compounds. Only limited studies on presence and toxic impact of these persistent organic pollutants have been carried out in India. There is an urgent need to conduct extensive and comprehensive studies for the detection of these emerging pollutants in the various environmental and biological matrices. This review paper summarizes the currently available literature on occurrence, distribution of Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in India.