Highly contaminated drinking water has been detected at several locations in Sweden. Such locations include Arvidsjaur, Lulnäset, Uppsala and Visby. In 2013, PFAS were detected at high concentrations in one of the two municipality drinking water treatment plants in the town of Ronneby, in southern Sweden. Concentrations of PFHxS and PFOS were found at 1700 ng/L and 8000 ng/L, respectively. The source of contamination was later found to be a military fire-fighting exercise site in which PFAS containing fire-fighting foam had been used since the mid-1980s.
Additionally, low-level contaminated drinking water has also been shown to be a significant exposure source of PFOA, PFNA, PFHxS and PFOS for Swedish adolescents (ages 10–21). Even though the median concentrations in the municipality drinking water were below <1 ng individual PFAS/L, positive associations were found between adolescent serum PFAS concentrations and PFAS concentrations in drinking water.