Recent Advances in the Use of Chemical Markers for Tracing Wastewater Contamination in Aquatic Environment: A Review

Abstract

There has been increasing research focus on the detection and occurrence of wastewater contamination in aquatic environment. Wastewater treatment plants receive effluents containing various chemical pollutants. These chemicals may not be fully removed during treatment and could potentially enter the receiving water bodies. Detection of these chemical pollutants and source identification could be a challenging research task due to the diversified chemical and functional groups, concentration levels and fate and transportation mechanisms of these pollutants in the environment. Chemical markers such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, artificial sweeteners, fluorescent whitening agents, sterols and stanols, and nitrate and nitrogen isotopics have been widely used by most research as markers. These markers served as indicators of wastewater contamination to the receiving bodies due to their frequent usage, resistance to biodegradability and, more importantly, anthropogenic origin. These markers are commonly used in combination to identify the contaminant source of different origins. This article discusses the main chemical markers that are used to identify wastewater contamination in receiving bodies, the current trends, and approach to select suitable chemical markers.

Review Article: Hawai‘i's Cesspool Problem: Review and Recommendations for Water Resources and Human Health

“…An indicator of anthropogenic pollution is the presence of synthetic chemicals or compounds such as those in personal care products (PCP), artificial sweeteners (AS) such as sucralose, and pharmaceuticals (including synthetic hormones) in water bodies. Research on these chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) found that pharmaceuticals, PCPs, and AS might be promising markers for detecting and identifying wastewater sources (Tran et al 2014; Lim et al 2017). These markers are persistent, not naturally produced in the environment, not entirely removed by wastewater treatment plants or OSDS, and tend to be relatively stable during transport (Lim et al 2017).…”

“…Research on these chemicals of emerging concern (CECs) found that pharmaceuticals, PCPs, and AS might be promising markers for detecting and identifying wastewater sources (Tran et al 2014; Lim et al 2017). These markers are persistent, not naturally produced in the environment, not entirely removed by wastewater treatment plants or OSDS, and tend to be relatively stable during transport (Lim et al 2017). It remains highly challenging to accurately predict the extent of wastewater contamination using the methods developed for these chemical markers; no single chemical serves as a definitive marker for wastewater contamination for all sites accurately, due to lifespan, environmental interactions, and other factors.…”

Following the Water: Characterising de facto Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture in the Netherlands

“…CBZ is chosen as a widely used tracer of TWW contamination [22]. Its utility stems from the fact that it is highly conservative, originates primarily from domestic wastewater and has no natural background concentration in surface water systems [23]. Observed CBZ concentrations and surface water discharges are used to extrapolate TWW discharge equivalent values using the following linear dilution model:…”

Impact of the wastewater-mixing zone on attenuation of pharmaceuticals in natural waters: Implications for an impact zone inclusive environmental risk assessment

“…The work of Vankova et al(2010) provides the only available information on the biodegradability of NVR and the results of this study were consistent with that study, which suggested high recalcitrance in wastewater treatment works. Due to the almost identical behaviour of CBZ, further investigation to evaluate its applicability as a possible marker for sewage contamination (Lim et al, 2017) is recommended, especially targeted to African countries where it is widely consumed (Madikizela et al, 2017).…”