Organic Contaminants from Industrial Wastewaters: Identification, Toxicity and Fate in the Environment

Abstract

Industrialization and urbanization in the industrial nations and increasingly also in emerging and developing nations have led to an intensive and still increasing use of freshwater resources. Industries are one of the most important pollution sources and the discharged wastewaters may contain very diverse organic compound groups. Among those, lipophilic contaminants possessing functional groups which are not common in nature rank among the compounds which are most persistent. There have been strong efforts in environmental sciences for a comprehensive characterization of chemical contamination and the related impacts, in order to provide data as a basis for management measures. Here we review the current state of knowledge about organic contaminants from industrial sources. We present information about (i) the identification of organic contaminants in industrial wastewaters, (ii) how these compounds are traced in aquatic systems, and (iii) on their toxicity for aquatic organisms as observed in laboratory experiments and in the field.