Emerging Pollutants- A review of current understanding and future scenario

A recently identified community of chemicals found in aquatic ecosystems are pollutants of increasing concern or, literally, emerging pollutants (EPs). It was only the advances in analytical techniques that enabled the identification of these pollutants even at low concentrations. The persistent discovery of new chemicals prompts concerns about their origin routes, their destiny, their transport, their transition and their effect on the aquatic ecosystem. As new chemical substances are continually being generated and scientific research optimizes its awareness of existing and previous pollutants, pollutants of increasing concerns will stay a moving target. EPs primarily originating from the disposal of urban and industrial wastewater effluents, are widespread in the aquatic ecosystems. Owing to the potential biological effect on organisms within the ecosystem, their existence is of worry. A holistic approach to sampling is needed in order to understand their fate and transformations in wastewater and ecosystem. This implies the attainment of relevant evidence and promotes a deeper interpretation of spatiotemporal pollutant patterns and occurrence. During treating of wastewater, owing to more planning criteria and absence of good analytical techniques, there is a shortage of residual pollutants study. This leads to under-reported analysis of many EPs joining wastewater treatment works and the aquatic ecosystem. Sludge can hold concentrations of certain chemicals, during the treatment of wastewater that ends up being applied to agriculture without analysis for EPs. Hence a framework for environmental reporting that is more holistic is needed, so that the destiny and effect of EPs are explored in all environmental systems. This review discusses current understanding of EPs and provides recommendations for better future analysis.