From source to stream: CEC source identification and quantification in the Changle River Watershed.

Priority Substance (PSs) and Contaminant of Emerging Concerns (CECs) exhibited a wide range of environmental and public health concerns worldwide. This review summarized the documented studies related to the current surface water occurrence, spatial distribution, ecological risks and toxicity of selected PSs, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and CECs, such as Di(2-Ethylhexyl) Phthalate (DEHP) and Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs). The spatial distribution analysis revealed alarming levels of PAHs in the surface waters of Asian counties, e.g., 84210 ng L-1 in Gomti River, India, 29325 ng L-1 in Daya Bay, China and 1287 ng L-1 in Chenab River, Pakistan. As for DEHP, the highest concentrations of 13050 µg L-1 in Liao River, China, and 2306 µg L-1 in Rivers of Eastern Cape, South Africa were reported. These environmental levels of PAHs and DEHP were many folds higher than the surface water permissible levels devised by WHO and USEPA. Contrarily, the emerging PPCPs were reported in relatively lower levels in the surface waters globally, compared to that of PAHs and DEHP. Consistent with the environmental levels, PAHs and DEHP revealed alarming ecological risks in the surface water sources, compared to that of PPCPs. Regarding to the sources of PSs and CECs, PAHs emissions were mostly linked to the incomplete combustion of petroleum products, DEHP contamination was associated to its applications in consumption and production of plastic appliances and PPCPs emissions were largely related to the domestic and industrial effluents. As for toxic endpoints of PAHs, DEHP and PPCPs, all of these were reported to cause DNA damage, genotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, developmental toxicity and immunotoxicity, as revealed in reviewed in vitro/vivo studies. In addition, the current review also highlighted the existing environmental regulations to control the emissions of these pollutants to the environmental matrices. Taken together, this review concluded that despite the existing environmental regulations, the current levels of organic pollutants are still on rising, especially in Asian countries. Therefore, the strict implementation of the existing regulations is highly necessary to control these pollutants to ensure public health and ecological integrity.

Development of emission factors to estimate discharge of typical pharmaceuticals and personal care products from wastewater treatment plants

Characterization of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in lake sturgeon serum and gametes

Characterizing pharmaceutical, personal care product, and hormone contamination in a karst aquifer of southwestern Illinois, USA, using water quality and stream flow parameters

With increasing population of the world, the uses of needful chemicals are also increasing day by day. In the last 20 years, thousands of research papers have been published, reporting different aspects of chemicals known as contaminants of emerging concern (CEC), and more than 40,000 chemicals are identified as CECs. The pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), UV filters etc. belong to the CEC class and their incorrect disposal procedure has made them as emerging contaminants. CECs are detected in the groundwater which may produce undesirable effects to human health and aquatic organisms. Unfortunately, very less amount of data are available on the environmental behavior and ecotoxicity of pharmaceuticals and other CECs; therefore, we need computational models for ecotoxicological risk assessment of chemicals with speed and accuracy that may fill the data gap by utilizing fewer resources and experimental animals. New approaches like Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship (QSAR) may be able to generate valuable information and could help to meet these challenges. In this present study, we have developed Quantitative Structure-Toxicity Relationship (QSTR) models for the prediction of aquatic ecotoxicity of CECs on fresh water planarian (Dugesia japonica) by partial least squares (PLS) regression algorithm using simple molecular descriptors selected by genetic algorithm approach. Furthermore, interspecies quantitative structure toxicity-toxicity relationship (QSTTR) models were developed between planarian and daphnia (Daphnia magna) as well as between planarian and fish (Pimephales promelas) which can extrapolate data from one toxicity endpoint to another toxicity endpoint. The descriptors were calculated from PaDEL-Descriptor and Dragon software. Both QSTR and QSTTR models have desirable statistical qualities, meeting rigorous criteria of different validation metrics and OECD guidelines. Applicability domain assessment was also carried out to define the scope of the developed models and to highlight the compounds which are falling outside the domain. Consensus predictions were also performed based on multiple models generated in this study by using the Intelligent Consensus Predictor (ICP) tool http://teqip.jdvu.ac.in/QSAR_Tools/DTCLab/) to enhance the prediction quality for external set compounds. This study shows how in silico models can be applied for the toxicity assessment of CECs in aquatic organisms and indicating what are the structural features involved in their toxicity.

The occurrence and risk management of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are topics receiving considerable attention in recent years. Monitoring of EDC and PPCP residues has been conducted in raw and treated sewage, surface waters, ground waters, and drinking waters. Recent research has been aimed at improving analytical methods and furthering knowledge of fate and transport processes, environmental risks, source reduction, and risk management including treatment of EDC and PPCP contaminants. This paper provides an overview of the topic and regulatory issues pertaining to our understanding and managing of EDCs. In addition, this paper provides discussion on emerging concerns regarding PPCPs in the environment. Completed research is described pertaining to development of analytical methods, occurrence of EDCs and PPCPs in waters of southeastern Louisiana USA and Ontario Canada, assessment of drinking water treatment processes, and experimental results regarding the formation of chlorinated naproxen byproducts and impact of these byproducts on a simulated biofilm system. And finally, EDCs and PPCPs are described from an industry perspective. Background More and more the public is expressing interest in classes of organic micropollutants known as endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs). EDCs and PPCPs represent a wide range of compounds including synthetic and natural hormones, prescription and over-thecounter drugs, and personal care products such as shampoos and deodorants. EDCs and PPCPs have been detected in municipal wastewater effluents, surface water, groundwater, and drinking water supplies at very low levels, typically in the nanogram to microgram per liter levels. In general, public awareness is concerned about how these organic micro-pollutants can potentially affect our water resources, and what are acceptable levels of risk to humans, wildlife, and the environment.

Seasonal variation and dissolved organic matter influence on the distribution, transformation, and environmental risk of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in coastal zone: a case study of Tianjin, China

This study describes microbial and chemical source tracking approaches for water pollution in rural and urban catchments. Culturable faecal indicator bacteria, represented by Escherichia coli, were quantified. Microbial source tracking (MST) using host-specific DNA markers was applied to identify the origins of faecal contamination. Chemical source tracking (CST) was conducted to determine contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) of human/anthropogenic origin, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). In addition, the eutrophication-causing macronutrients nitrogen and phosphorus were studied. MST tests revealed both anthropogenic and zoogenic faecal origins, with a dominance of human sources in the urban stream; non-human/environmental sources were prevalent in the rural creek. CST analyses revealed a higher number of CECs in the urban stream than in the rural watercourse. Positive correlations between PPCPs and both E. coli and the human DNA marker were uncovered in the urban stream, while in the rural creek, PPCPs were only highly correlated with the anthropogenic marker. Interestingly, macronutrients were strongly associated with primary faecal pollution origins in both watercourses. This correlation pattern determines the main pollutant contributors (anthropogenic or zoogenic) to eutrophication.

Worldwide bottled water occurrence of emerging contaminants: A review of the recent scientific literature

Occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in domestic wastewater, available treatment technologies, and potential treatment using constructed wetland: A review

Profiling of emerging contaminants and antibiotic resistance in sewage treatment plants: An Indian perspective

Water is the inevitable element present on Earth. The hydrosphere consists of the total amount of water on the planet. In the present scenario, water quality has been depleted a lot, sometimes due to natural reasons and sometimes anthropogenic activities are responsible for this deterioration. Clean and safe drinking water is the basic need and right of all the sentient, but today many lacking in this basic need is present. Nowadays, contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) have been a threat to humankind. These contaminants persisted in the environment for a long time but were unrecognized. These contaminants are present in trace amounts ranging from ng/L to µg/L. Due to their hazardous health effects, these emerging contaminants are gaining scientific attention. This chapter focuses on the classification and removal technology of various contaminants like pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), pesticides, betablockers, herbicides, perchlorates, endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), algal toxin, etc., from water bodies. Various conventional and non-conventional biological, chemical and physical technologies are discussed in the chapter that are used for the removal of CECs, and the study shows that among all the biological treatments, membrane bioreactor (MBR) and activated sludge are the most widely used and efficient techniques for the removal of CECs. Some contaminants viz. E1, E2, E3, EE2, bisphenol A can be removed efficiently (>90%) from wastewater through methods like ozonation and heterogenous photocatalysis (UV/TiO2).

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products and heavy metals in the Ganga River, India: Distribution, ecological and human health risk assessment

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) have received global attention owing to their potential risks to human health and the ecological environment. However, limited research has explored the occurrence and ecological risks of PPCPs in the Qiantang River (QTR). QTR, the largest water system in Zhejiang Province, China, is significantly influenced by human activities. This study investigated the occurrence, distribution, and ecological risks of 10 types of PPCPs in both surface water and sediment within QTR. The findings revealed that the concentrations of PPCPs detected in surface water ranged from 81.26 to 149.45 ng L-1 during the wet season (April) and from 98.66 to 198.55 ng L-1 during the dry season (September). Moreover, in the sediments, PPCP concentration ranged from 63.24 to 80.66 and 72.54 to 75.06 ng per g dw during both wet and dry seasons, respectively. Among the selected PPCPs, triclosan (TCS) exhibited the highest concentration across, different phases and seasons, followed by benzotriazole in surface water. The analysis of sediment-water equilibrium distribution indicated that the diffusion tendency of PPCPs was closely correlated with their molecular weights. Particularly, TCS exhibited dynamic equilibrium between water and sediment. Principal component analysis and positive matrix factorization model results indicated similar pollution sources for the detected PPCPs. The dominant sources of the detected PPCPs were identified as wastewater of electroplating enterprises, discharge from wastewater treatment plants, and domestic sewage. The ecological risk assessment based on the risk quotient method revealed that TCS with the highest detected concentration posed a high risk in surface water and a low risk in sediment across all sampling sites. However, other detected PPCPs showed either no or low risks. Additionally, PPCPs showed a higher ecological risk during the dry season than during the wet season.

Distribution and ecological risks of pharmaceuticals and personal care products with different anthropogenic pressures in typical watersheds in China.