Emerging organic contaminants in groundwater: A review of sources, fate and occurrence

Abstract

Emerging organic contaminants (EOCs) detected in groundwater may have adverse effects on human health and aquatic ecosystems. This paper reviews the existing occurrence data in groundwater for a range of EOCs including pharmaceutical, personal care, 'life-style' and selected industrial compounds. The main sources and pathways for organic EOCs in groundwater are reviewed, with occurrence data for EOCs in groundwater included from both targeted studies and broad reconnaissance surveys. Nanogram-microgram per litre concentrations are present in groundwater for a large range of EOCs as well as metabolites and transformation products and under certain conditions may pose a threat to freshwater bodies for decades due to relatively long groundwater residence times. In the coming decades, more of these EOCs are likely to have drinking water standards, environmental quality standards and/or groundwater threshold values defined, and therefore a better understanding of the spatial and temporal variation remains a priority.Keywords: emerging contaminants; review; groundwater; pharmaceuticals; occurrence Capsule: A large range of emerging organic contaminants are now being detected in groundwater as a result of recent and historical anthropogenic activities. IntroductionA diverse array of synthetic organic compounds are used by society in vast quantities for a range of purposes including the production and preservation of food, industrial manufacturing processes, as well as for human and animal healthcare. In the last few decades there has been a growing interest in the occurrence of these, so called, 'micro-organic contaminants' in the terrestrial and aquatic environment, their environmental fate and their potential toxicity (Stan and Linkerhagner, 1992;Stan et al., 1994;Halling-Sørensen et al., 1998;Daughton and Ternes, 1999;Schwarzenbach et al., 2006;Kümmerer, 2009). The contamination of groundwater resources by micro-organics is a growing concern and relatively poorly understood compared to other freshwater resources. Groundwater provides the most reliable perennial source of freshwater on Earth. It maintains flows and levels in rivers and lakes, is essential for the health of groundwater-dependant ecosystems, and in many parts of the world is the most important source of drinking water.Of particular concern are 'emerging organic contaminants' (EOCs). This term is used to cover not only newly developed compounds but also compounds newly discovered in the environment -often due to analytical developments (Lindsey et al., 2001;Petrovic and Barceló, 2006;Richardson and Ternes, 2011) and compounds that have only recently been categorised as contaminants. EOCs include a wide array of different compounds (as well as metabolites and transformation products-collectively referred to here as degradates)including; pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), pesticides, veterinary products, industrial compounds/by-products, food additives as well as engineered nanomaterials. Because of the vast array of possible comp...

Hydrochemical profiles in urban groundwater systems: New insights into contaminant sources and pathways in the subsurface from legacy and emerging contaminants

“…A growing number of microorganic contaminants have been found in groundwater resources over the last few decades as analytical techniques have become more affordable and advanced and as awareness of different sources of contaminants has grown (Farré et al, 2012;Lapworth et al, 2012). Many of these are now being detected in urban groundwater across the world (Duong et al, 2015;Jurado et al, 2014;Jurado et al, 2012;Lin et al, 2015;López-Serna et al, 2013;Osenbrück et al, 2007) The sources and pathways for organic micro-pollutants to reach the groundwater include point and diffuse sources and are summarised for an urban settings in Stuart et al (2012). A large number of different sources and pathways have the potential to pollute the partially unconfined Sherwood Sandstone aquifer.…”

Emerging Organic Contaminants in Groundwater

“…However, manure and bio-solid-derived ECs are more likely to reach ground water in significant concentrations via indirect routes, such as runoff and surface water-groundwater (SW-GW) exchange, rather than downward migration, due to attenuation in the soil and unsaturated zone [20]. SW-GW interaction is therefore an important pathway.…”

“…The first systematic review of ECs in groundwater, by Lapworth et al (2012), highlighted the worldwide widespread contamination of groundwater resources by a large variety compounds that are detected as a result of both recent and historical activities [20]. Environmentally significant concentrations (10 2 -10 4 ng/L) of a range of ECs, including a number of endocrine disrupting substances, are being detected in groundwaters globally.…”

Sources of endocrine-disrupting compounds and their migration to the environment

“…BPA can also partially accumulate by passing through soil and river sediments. [15] 60-600 [43] 360-1620 [18] 378-890 [9] 416-2050 [23] 1800 [40] 2-44 [43] 30-1100 [15] 35-86 [23] 110-300 [18] 700 [40] 1.2-1900 [1] 2.1-87 [13] 2.2-4230 [21] 6-34 [23] 6-68 [11] 6-500 [26] 6-881 [22] 7.5-334 [12] 55-162 [27] 192-215 [15] 460-4800 [25] b.l.q.-494 [17] b.l.q.-7000 [19] b.l.q.-9300 [28] 1-1136 [20] 1-11 [4] 79-2550 [15] 600-11000 [14] 0.17-1.25 [2] 0.58-36700 [8] 1.1-43 [42] 4.3-130 [25] 10-530 [23] 53-196 [43] 0.32 [6] Fu and Kawamura [5] showed that bisphenol A is also present in air samples. In the agricultural areas of China, its concentration in the air does not exceed 240 pg/m3, but the air samples in urban areas are more contaminated (20-2.340 pg/m 3 ).…”