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Emerging Contaminants in Drinking Water: Implications for Public Health and Water Treatment
Summary
Your tap water may contain low levels of drug residues, "forever chemicals" (PFAS), microplastics, and other modern pollutants that standard water treatment plants aren't fully designed to remove. This review of existing research finds that while we don't fully understand the long-term health effects, these contaminants have been linked to hormone disruption and antibiotic resistance—and newer filtering technologies that could remove them more effectively remain expensive and aren't widely used yet. The takeaway: better testing, updated regulations, and improved treatment methods are needed to make drinking water safer as science catches up.
Emerging contaminants (ECs) in drinking water have become an important issue of concern in the world because of their prevalence, persistence, and the possible dangers they pose to human health. Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are those pollutants. Their long-term release and biological activity are of concern due to long-term exposure and the impact of accumulation despite the fact that they are typically found in low concentrations. The study is a narrative review, which examines the vital sources, phenomena, and routes of ECs in the drinking water systems. The greatest contributors are the wastewater treatment plants effluents, agricultural runoffs, industry runoffs, and urban activities that carry them into surface water and groundwater used as drinking water sources. The other consequence of EC exposure on the health of the population observed in the review is the interference with endocrine systems, chronic toxicity and spread of antimicrobial resistance. The efficacy of the traditional and modern water treatment technologies is critically compared. Even though the traditional processes have low removal efficiency, emerging methods such as membrane filtration, adsorption, and advanced oxidation processes have high efficiency but are most likely associated with high costs and operational complexities. In general, gaps in terms of monitoring, toxicological evidence, and regulatory systems are still critical. In a bid to overcome these challenges, there is need to come up with combined approaches that entail improved detection, sustainable treatment technologies and risk-based management strategies.