A 17-fold increase of trifluoroacetic acid in landscape waters of Beijing, China during the last decade

• Concentrations of TFA in landscape waters after 10 years are reported.
• Atmospheric deposition is the main contribution route for increased TFA in waters.
• Distribution of TFA in waters is simulated by QWASI model.

The concentrations of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) were measured in urban landscape waters, tap water and snows in Beijing, China in 2012. Compared with the 2002 measurements, a 17-fold increase from 23–98 ng L−1 to 345–828 ng L−1 was observed for TFA concentrations in urban landscape waters, and an obvious increase from not detected (n.d.) to 155 ng L−1 occurred to TFA in tap water. By flux estimation between air and water interface, the remarkable increase of TFA was attributable to dry and wet deposition. The quantitative water–air–sediment interaction (QWASI) model simulated TFAs in various environmental media and showed that, over 99% of TFA distributed in water bodies. Our results recommend that measures are needed to control the increase of TFA in China.