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An introduction to the world ocean
Published in Mark Zacharias, Jeff Ardron, Marine Policy, 2019
Over the past 100 years of industrial chemistry, hundreds of synthetic compounds have found their way into the world ocean. Thousands of new compounds are created each year with sometimes unknown implications should the compound be released in the environment and without a regulatory regime to apply precaution to their use. Synthetic compounds have been categorized in many ways, but generally they can be separated into persistent organic pollutants (POPs), pesticides, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants and other substances captured under the general heading of ‘contaminants of emerging concern’ (or CECs). Unlike pathogens, the consequence of synthetic compounds on the environment and human health are subtler, including long-term bio accumulative effects leading to potential chronic illness and cumulative/delayed effects.
Feasibility of Advanced Water Purification Processes
Published in Frank R. Spellman, Land Subsidence Mitigation, 2017
All IPR projects are required to comply with drinking water MCLs, although this requirement is typically not difficult to meet because most modern wastewater treat- ment plants comply with drinking water MCLs, except for Tennessee, where nitri- fication and denitrification are not practiced. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as personal care products and pharmaceuticals (PCPPs), are any syn- thetic or naturally occurring chemical or any microorganism that is not commonly monitored in the environment but has the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological and/or human health effects. Personal care products and pharmaceuticals represent a very broad, diverse collection of thousands of chemical substances, including prescription and over-the-counter ther- apeutic drugs, fragrances, cosmetics, sunscreen agents, diagnostic agents, nutrap- harmaceuticals, and biopharmaceuticals, among many others. These emerging contaminants have attracted significant media attention in recent years because of improvements in analytical techniques allowing measurement of these chemicals at a parts-per-trillion level (ppt). Although some impact on the ecology has been noted at a few wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) discharge locations due to endocrine- disrupting compounds, no impact on human health has been observed. However, at this point in time the best we can say about PCPPs and their effect on the environ- ment and human health is that we do not know what we do not know about them.
Education and capacity development for groundwater resources management
Published in Karen G. Villholth, Elena López-Gunn, Kirstin I. Conti, Alberto Garrido, Jac van der Gun, Advances in Groundwater Governance, 2017
One of the key considerations for any groundwater professional is that his/her education does not cease after graduating with their university degree. Life-long learning through continuing professional development programmes is essential to ensure that the hydrogeologist keeps up to date with new knowledge in his/her field. To illustrate the importance of this, whilst a groundwater professional graduating in the 1970s would have learnt about anthropogenic contaminants such as nitrates from agricultural fertilisers, he/she would not have been aware of the threat of arsenic contamination in certain alluvial aquifers in Asia and South America, since this knowledge did not become available until much later in the 20th century (BGS/DPHE, 2001; Ravenscroft et al., 2009). The groundwater professional working in such environments must keep up to date with respect to new information on the causes, extent and management strategies for tackling the arsenic problem, issues about which our understanding continues to evolve. Again, there are many anthropogenic contaminants where the risks to human health and the environment are not well understood (Sutherson et al., 2016). These so-called “contaminants of emerging concern” (CECs) include various pharmaceutical compounds, water treatment disinfection by-products and nanoparticles. A continuing professional development programme for a hydrogeologist working on industrial contamination projects must therefore include keeping abreast of the latest scientific literature and attending conferences, workshops and short training courses on the subject of these CECs.
Pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the urban groundwater – preliminary monitoring (case study: Kraków, Southern Poland)
Published in Urban Water Journal, 2021
Piotr Rusiniak, Ewa Kmiecik, Katarzyna Wątor, Robert Duda, Ryszard Bugno
In the era of Anthropocene (Gałuszka, Migaszewski, and Zalasiewicz 2014; Waters et al. 2016) to the natural environment, there are released contaminants of emerging concern, which identification will be crucial for future assessment of the environmental ecologic state. Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are a large group of chemical compounds that worldwide occurrence and undesirable effects on the environment and human health are being still recognized. One of these chemical families is pharmaceuticals and products of their transformation. There are registered about 3000 substances used for pharmaceutical purposes in the European Union (EU) (Lin et al. 2015). Taking into account worldwide statistics, approximately 12,000 pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are being used (Lin et al. 2015). Their presence, in general, is mainly caused by human activity which includes direct and/or indirect consumption. New analytical approaches allow the determination of CECs, also the undetectable previously compounds, occurring in very low concentrations in the complex environmental samples (Samanipour et al. 2017, 2019; Alygizakis et al. 2018; Choi et al. 2019).
Examining the implementation of potable water reuse in sewersheds of Southeastern Spain
Published in Urban Water Journal, 2022
M. B. Bernabé-Crespo, J. Olcina Cantos, A. Lahora
It is socially attributed that waters which are directly obtained from the environment are better and purer. However, this may not be valid in many areas of the planet, due to discharges (intentional or not) of sewage, agricultural and urban runoff. However, sewage comprises a mixture of domestic, industrial and agricultural pollutants, thus a monitoring system needs to be implemented to demonstrate that the concentrations of these pollutants, if still present after the recycling process, do not pose any health risk (Rodríguez et al. 2009, 1180). This especially involves the so-called ‘contaminants of emerging concern’ (CEC), which also includes antibiotics and other chemical compounds that might cause cancer or affect the endocrine system (estrogens). Viruses and other pathogens are biological contaminants of special attention, as these can lead to disease outbreaks and are a public health priority (Boone et al. 2019; Furlong et al. 2017; Glassmeyer et al. 2017). These can be removed by advanced treatment technologies (Wintgens et al. 2008; Snyder et al. 2007). In San Diego (California, USA), the monitoring program proved the effectiveness of reverse osmosis (RO) to remove metals and other inorganic compounds, as well as other pharmaceutical products present in sewage (Rodríguez et al. 2009, 1180). Research on techniques to improve purification processes and achieve the practical elimination of potentially harmful substances has advanced in recent years. Some studies in the USA or Singapore conclude that no adverse health effects, carcinogenic or estrogenic have been detected in fish and mice (Rodríguez et al. 2009, 1179). There is no evidence that communities that drink water from recycling processes are exposed to a greater risk of disease (Rodríguez et al. 2009, 1189).