PFAS - Perfluorinated Organic Compounds in View of the New Water Directive

Abstract The purpose of the work was to review the literature and characterize organic micropollutants from the group of perfluorinated surfactants - PFAS. It is a result of the proposal to include these compounds in the new Water Directive on the list of compounds which control in drinking water will be required and subject to inspection. The group of these organic bonds includes several thousand compounds in which fluorine is linked to the (straight or branched) chain of aliphatic hydrocarbons instead of hydrogen. The article describes the permissible concentrations of PFAS in waters, the properties of these compounds, their potential impact on organisms, concentrations identified in waters, and indicates the need to limit the emissions of these compounds to surface waters. This is an important problem from the point of view of these compounds’ impact on organisms and the fact that such waters are often a source of water supply for the national economy, including consumption by the population.