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The Fate and Effects of Emerging Pollutants in the Environment
Summary
Everyday chemicals from medicines, personal care products, pesticides, and plastics—including microplastics and "forever chemicals" (PFAS)—are slipping through our wastewater systems and building up in water, soil, and even our food chain, largely unchecked by current regulations. This review of existing research shows these pollutants can disrupt hormones, help harmful bacteria become drug-resistant, and harm wildlife and ecosystems that humans ultimately depend on. The takeaway: better treatment technology and stronger environmental regulations are needed to keep these under-the-radar chemicals from continuing to accumulate in
Emerging pollutants (EPs), widely designated as Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs), encompass a diverse array of both anthropogenic and naturally occurring chemical substances that have historically remained outside the scope of formal environmental monitoring programs and regulatory classification. The group spans a broad chemical spectrum, ranging from antibiotics, synthetic hormones, and personal care products to agrochemicals, manufactured nanomaterials, microplastic particles, and recalcitrant industrial chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). EPs exhibit a pronounced resistance to elimination by standard wastewater treatment infrastructure, which contributes to their sustained presence in aquatic, soil, and atmospheric environments. Entry pathways into the environment encompass effluent discharges from both treated and untreated wastewater systems, runoff from cultivated lands, atmospheric deposition, and contamination leaching from solid waste facilities. Collectively, these routes have resulted in their detection in surface waters, groundwater, soil profiles, sediment beds, and the tissues of living organisms worldwide. The environmental and ecological ramifications of EPs’ presence are wide-ranging: these substances induce chronic sub lethal harm in non-target species, impair endocrine regulatory functions, accelerate the development of antibiotic-resistant bacterial populations, and alter the structural and functional properties of microbial assemblages. Terrestrial systems face diminished biodiversity and restricted plant productivity. Managing this multifaceted environmental challenge will require the combined application of cutting-edge treatment technologies, substantive reform of existing effluent regulations, and the construction of globally integrated and sustained monitoring frameworks.