Emerging Contaminants in Wastewater and Surface Water

Abstract

Currently, severe contamination of water bodies has led to the scarcity of usable water for drinking and other purposes. The heavy emergence of pollutants in the aquatic environment ranging from ng/l to mg/L is just a consequence of drastic and speedy anthropogenic activities. As compared to developed countries, developing countries, in general, face a more serious impact of alleviating contaminants in water bodies owing to the lack of adequate studies on the current status of water contamination as well as the fate and impact of ECs in wastewater and surface water. Further, the occurrence of pollutants (generally, organics) in wastewater is increasing non-regulated manner above the safe limits. These are not only harmful to aquatic flora and fauna but also for terrestrial lives and recently have been observed by advanced analytical detectors. These trace compounds are termed emerging contaminants (ECs) derived from pharmaceuticals (PhACs), personal care products (PCPs), endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs). In this book chapter, we would thoroughly discuss the above-mentioned individual types of emerging contaminants in detail and also present the survey on their local distribution aqueous matrix in India. Finally, we would elaborate on the possible solution to tackle this problematic situation of ECs dumping into wastewater and surface water. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.