Emerging pollutants in the environment: present and future challenges in biomonitoring, ecological risks and bioremediation.
Emerging pollutants reach the environment from various anthropogenic sources and are distributed throughout environmental matrices. Although great advances have been made in the detection and analysis of trace pollutants during recent decades, due to the continued development and refinement of specific techniques, a wide array of undetected contaminants of emerging environmental concern need to be identified and quantified in various environmental components and biological tissues. These pollutants may be mobile and persistent in air, water, soil, sediments and ecological receptors even at low concentrations. Robust data on their fate and behaviour in the environment, as well as on threats to ecological and human health, are still lacking. Moreover, the ecotoxicological significance of some emerging micropollutants remains largely unknown, because satisfactory data to determine their risk often do not exist. This paper discusses the fate, behaviour, (bio)monitoring, environmental and health risks associated with emerging chemical (pharmaceuticals, endocrine disruptors, hormones, toxins, among others) and biological (bacteria, viruses) micropollutants in soils, sediments, groundwater, industrial and municipal wastewaters, aquaculture effluents, and freshwater and marine ecosystems, and highlights new horizons for their (bio)removal. Our study aims to demonstrate the imperative need to boost research and innovation for new and cost-effective treatment technologies, in line with the uptake, mode of action and consequences of each emerging contaminant. We also address the topic of innovative tools for the evaluation of the effects of toxicity on human health and for the prediction of microbial availability and degradation in the environment. Additionally, we consider the development of (bio)sensors to perform environmental monitoring in real-time mode. This needs to address multiple species, along with a more effective exploitation of specialised microbes or enzymes capable of degrading endocrine disruptors and other micropollutants. In practical terms, the outcomes of these activities will build up the knowledge base and develop solutions to fill the significant innovation gap faced worldwide.
"Gheorghe Asachi" Technical University of Iasi, Department of Environmental Engineering and Management, 73 Prof.dr.docent D. Mangeron Street, 700050 Iasi, Romania; Academy of Romanian Scientists, 54 Splaiul Independentei, RO-050094 Bucharest, Romania. Electronic address: mgav@tuiasi.ro.
Maria
M
Gavrilescu
Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Technická 3, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic.
Kateřina
K
Demnerová
Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), Department of Geochemistry, Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen, Denmark.
Jens
J
Aamand
Catholic University of Louvain, Faculty of Bioengineering, Agronomy and Environment, Earth and Life Institute, Place Croix du Sud 2, Box L7.05.19, B-1348 Louvain-la Neuve, Belgium.
Spiros
S
Agathos
Alma Mater Studiorum - University of Bologna, Department of Civil, Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering, Via Terracini 28, I-40131 Bologna, Italy.
Fabio
F
Fava
D001673:Biodegradation, Environmental; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D062069:Inventions; D018570:Risk Assessment
D004785:Environmental Pollutants