Isabella Rios, Jenny Ngyuen, Maryam Ghalamkari / Earth & Environmental Sciences / Faculty Mentor: Un-Jung Kim
Community- or population-specific exposure to water quality issues is a growing concern, particularly in socially vulnerable and marginalized communities. Recent studies have shown that poor water quality disproportionately affects these communities and elevates the environmental health risks. Considering certain persistent environmental chemicals (e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs)) and microplastics (MPs) which are pervasive in water systems are toxic (carcinogenic and neurotoxic) at trace level, it is essential to understand any hidden exposure risks induced from the water sources. In this project, two marginalized communities in the North Texas region and their drinking water are compared to other surface and potable water sources in a similar geographical location and land use. This study aims to quantify PAHs, PCBs, and MPs from various forms of drinkable water. Water samples were prepared through liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase extraction depending on chemical class, appropriately. Identification and quantification of target targeted analytes were performed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for PAHs and PCBs and by pyro-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for MPs.
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