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Water Pollution and Human Health: An Integrated Risk Perspective
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This review of over 330 studies pulls together what scientists know about how pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, drug residues, microplastics, and harmful bacteria get into our water and eventually into our bodies. The big takeaway: we still don't fully understand what happens when multiple pollutants combine in our water supply, and this mix of contaminants could be more harmful together than any single one alone. Bottom line—stronger water treatment and regulations are needed to close this research gap and better protect public health.
Water resources are essential for human well-being. However, water pollution is a major global problem with significant implications for the environment and public health. To address these challenges, this study presents an integrated perspective on water pollution by correlating pollution sources, transport pathways, exposure routes, and associated risks to human health. The methodology combined a systematic review conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines with a bibliometric analysis performed by using VOSviewer version 1.6.19, a software tool for constructing and visualizing bibliometric networks. A total of 332 publications published between 2015 and 2025 were retrieved from the Scopus and Google Scholar databases and met the PRISMA eligibility criteria. The findings indicate that both natural and anthropogenic sources contribute to water contamination, introducing pollutants such as heavy metals, pesticides, pharmaceutical residues, microplastics, and pathogenic microorganisms with potential human health impacts. Bibliometric analysis revealed a transition from conventional water quality assessments toward integrated approaches emphasizing health risks and environmental interactions. The study further identified important knowledge gaps regarding contaminant mixture effects and synergistic toxicity, which remain insufficiently addressed in current scientific and regulatory frameworks. These findings highlight the need for strengthened regulatory strategies, advanced treatment technologies, and evidence-based water governance to support environmental sustainability and public health protection.
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Incitement of Pollutants in Aquatic Ambience and Anthropological Well-being
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This review paper pulls together existing research showing how pollution from sewage, farm runoff, factories, and plastic waste is contaminating our water sources with harmful chemicals, heavy metals, and microplastics. These pollutants don't just harm fish and wildlife, they build up in the food chain and end up in our drinking water, increasing risks of cancer, developmental problems, and waterborne diseases like cholera. The takeaway: protecting water quality through better regulations and cleaner practices isn't just an environmental issue, it's directly tied to protecting human health, especially for communities with limited access to clean water.
Human Health Risks due to Exposure to Water Pollution: A Review
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This review looks at how water contamination from various sources -- including microplastics, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and industrial chemicals -- threatens public health worldwide. The health effects depend on the type of pollutant and length of exposure, and the paper highlights that microplastics are an emerging concern because they can carry other toxic substances into drinking water.
Analysis and Risks of Emerging Contaminants and Microplastics in Natural and Treated Waters and Human Health: A Critical Review
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This review pulls together current science on how researchers detect chemical pollutants and microplastics in our water supplies, and points out that our testing methods still aren't standardized enough to fully understand the risks. One key concern: microplastics may act like tiny rafts, carrying harmful chemicals and germs along with them into drinking water — meaning the real health risk could come from these combined "hitchhiker" effects, not just microplastics or chemicals alone. The takeaway isn't a new danger discovered, but a call for better, more consistent testing so scientists can accurately assess what's actually in our water and how it affects us.
Microplastic interactions with co-existing pollutants in water environments: Synergistic or antagonistic roles on their removal through current remediation technologies
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This review examines how microplastics interact with other pollutants like heavy metals, pesticides, and pharmaceuticals in water, often making each contaminant harder to remove during treatment. The interactions between microplastics and co-existing pollutants can produce unpredictable combined toxic effects that are worse than either pollutant alone. Understanding these interactions is important because real-world water contamination involves mixtures, not single pollutants, and current treatment methods may not adequately address these combinations.
A One Health perspective on water contaminants
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This review applied the One Health framework to water contaminants including microplastics, pathogens, and agrochemicals, emphasizing the interconnected impacts of water pollution on human, animal, and environmental health.
Research digests by email
When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.