Emerging Pollutants–Part I: Occurrence, Fate and Transport

Abstract

The presence of emerging pollutants (EPs) in water poses a potentially new and serious challenge on human health. Here, we reviewed the relevant literatures published in 2017, summarized the occurrence, environmental fate, transport and impacts of EPs in the environment, and analyzed the environmental toxicity of personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs), nanoparticles (NPs) and nanomaterials (NMs). This - review mainly focused on the occurrence surveys on surface water and the associations between exposure to EPs and toxicity of testing organisms. The control strategies and regulation for EPs based on the screening and monitoring methods were also discussed. Future efforts should be made to establish a comprehensive framework to study the adverse effects of EPs on organisms and new policies and legislations should be developed to control the release of hazardous EPs to the environment.

Antimicrobial resistant Escherichia coli from karst waters, surfaces and bat guano in Slovenian caves

“…In addition to compromising the treatment of infectious diseases, the natural resistome is constantly increasing in terms of the number and diversity of ARB and ARG. Pre-existing background levels of naturally occurring microbes, and those released due to discharge of human and animal waste, both contribute to the developing environmental resistome (Shao et al 2018;Zhao et al 2018). This study was designed to assess the presence and number of total and AMR-E. coli compared to the total microbial biomass in samples from different sites in the Slovenian karst ecosystem.…”

Emerging Contaminants: Analysis, Aquatic Compartments and Water Pollution

“…Indeed, the literature also includes discussion of antibioticresistant microorganisms and antibiotic-resistance genes under the broad category of emerging contaminants. More recently, nanoparticles have also been included in the class of emerging substances (Mearns et al 2018;Zhao et al 2018;de Marchi et al 2019;Matich et al 2019). Luo et al (2014) proposed to classify emerging contaminants in five categories, namely personal care products (fragrances, disinfectants, UV filters and insect repellents), pharmaceuticals (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, lipid regulator, anticonvulsants, β-blockers), steroid hormones, industrial chemicals (plasticizers, fire retardants, bisphenol A, phthalates) and surfactants (cleaning products, alkylphenols), excluding pesticides.…”

“…A third example of substances of recent concern are nanoparticles, which are organic or inorganic particles that are smaller than 100 nm, widely used in consumer products (cosmetics, sunscreens, electronics, food), pharmacy, medicine, and chemical industry (nano-plasticizers, coatings, textiles, catalysis). Other sectors are also concerned, such as automotive parts, building materials, sports equipment, and energy (Mearns et al 2018;Zhao et al 2018;de Marchi et al 2019;Matich et al 2019;Sousa and Teixeira 2020). Indeed, research and development in nanotechnology (including nanoscience, nanomaterials, and nanoparticles) is booming.…”

“…The contamination of wastewater systems by antibiotic-resistance genes and the global spread of antibiotic-resistant superbugs is of great concern. Indeed, an area of great interest to the scientific community is the phenomenon of bacterial resistance (Zad et al 2018;Zhao et al 2018;Kumar et al 2019;Liu et al 2019;Ng et al 2019;Reichert et al 2019;García et al 2020). Some bacterial clones have become resistant to most of the antibiotics, even to the last-resort compounds carbapenems or colistin, making the associated infections difficult to treat.…”

Designing a novel heterostructure AgInS2@MIL-101(Cr) photocatalyst from PET plastic waste for tetracycline degradation

“…1,3 In particular, minute amounts of TC in wastewater residues can produce bacteria resistance, which causes allergies and mutations in the human body. 4,5 Some methods have been proposed to remove this antibiotic in wastewater, including ozone treatment, 6 adsorption 7 and photocatalysis. 8 Among them, photocatalysis is potentially the most sustainable decontamination technology due to the ability to degrade TC into less harmful compounds with the use of abundant solar energy.…”