Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) are ubiquitous in various environments. This has caused great public concern, particularly in the shallow freshwater lake region, where the lake, rivers, and estuaries form a highly interconnected continuum. However, little is known about the environmental behaviors of PFAAs in the continuum. For the first time, a high-resolution monitoring framework covering the river-estuary-lake continuum of Luoma Lake was built, and the concentrations, sources, and environmental fates of PFAAs were identified and analyzed. The results revealed that the total concentration of PFAAs was at a moderate level in the water and at a high level in the sediment compared to global levels respectively. Perfluorooctanesulfonate (PFOS) was the most abundant PFAA in the continuum. In particular, the ∑PFAA concentration in the particle phase was much higher than that in the sediment phase. Distinct spatial heterogeneities were observed in the behaviors of distribution and the multiphase fate of PFAAs in the continuum, mainly driven by the turbulent mixing during transport, dilution of lake water, and spatial differences of hydrodynamic features and sedimentary properties among the sub-regions. Interestingly, the pH of the sediment and water had significant effects on the water-sediment portioning of PFAAs in contrasting ways. Furthermore, based on the composition of the sediments, four possible migration paths for PFAAs were deduced and the main sources of PFAAs were identified as sewage, domestic, and industrial effluents using the positive matrix factorization model. During the human health assessment, no risk was found under the median exposure scenario; however, under the high exposure scenario, PFAAs posed uncertain risks to human health, which cannot be ignored. This study provides basic information for simulating the fate and transport of PFAAs in the continuum and is significant for developing cost-effective control and remediation strategies in the near future.

全氟烷基酸（PFAAs）在各种环境中无处不在。这引起了公众的极大关注，尤其是在浅水湖泊地区，该地区的湖泊，河流和河口形成了高度相互联系的连续体。但是，关于全氟辛烷磺酸在连续过程中的环境行为知之甚少。首次建立了覆盖罗马湖河口湖连续体的高分辨率监测框架，并对PFAA的浓度，来源和环境命运进行了识别和分析。结果表明，与全球水平相比，PFAA的总浓度分别在水中处于中等水平，在沉积物中处于高水平。全氟辛烷磺酸（PFOS）是连续体中最丰富的PFAA。特别是，颗粒相中的PFFA浓度远高于沉积相中的。连续体中PFAAs的分布行为和多相结局表现出明显的空间异质性，这主要是由于运输过程中的湍流混合，湖水的稀释以及该次区域之间水动力特征和沉积特性的空间差异所致。有趣的是，沉积物和水的pH值以相反的方式对PFAA的水沉积物分配有显着影响。此外，根据沉积物的组成，推导了PFAA的四种可能迁移路径，并使用正矩阵分解模型确定了PFAA的主要来源为污水，生活和工业废水。在人类健康评估中，在中位暴露情景下未发现风险；但是，在高暴露情况下，全氟辛烷磺酸对人类健康构成了不确定的风险，这一点不容忽视。这项研究为模拟PFAA的命运和运输提供了基本信息，对于在不久的将来制定具有成本效益的控制和补救策略具有重要意义。