Historical usage of aqueous film forming foam: A case study of the widespread distribution of perfluoroalkyl acids from a military airport to groundwater, lakes, soils and fish

• PFOS in soil, surface and ground water is attributed to historical use of AFFF.
• PFOS and PFOA in soil cores remained in high concentrations >30 years after AFFF usage.
• PFAAs leaching from contaminated soil can be a source of PFAAs in ground water.
• PFOS in fish muscle from Lake Bysjön are among highest previously reported.

Historical usage of aqueous film forming foams (AFFFs) at military airports is a potential source of perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) to the nearby environment. In this study, the distribution of perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in soil, groundwater, surface water, tap water well, and fish muscle was investigated at a closed down military airfield (F18) and its surroundings in Stockholm, Sweden. The presence of PFOS at AFFF training sites was inventoried.One major finding of the study is that a former airfield, abandoned since 1994, may still be a point source of PFAAs to nearby recipients. PFOS and PFOA were ubiquitous in the soil samples at former AFFF training sites with concentrations ranging from 2.18 to 8520 ng g−1 dry weight and <0.12–287 ng g−1 dry weight respectively. The sum of PFAAs in the groundwater and surface waters ranged from 738 to 51 000 ng L−1 and