Removal of Emerging Contaminants: The Next Water Revolution

Abstract

Thousands of new, emerging chemicals are produced each year, making thorough investigations infeasible regarding their potential detrimental dimensions. As an important step for estimating whether a chemical will result in an exposure pathway and therefore create the potential for a detrimental impact, a coefficient-based strategy consisting of eight key coefficients, is proposed. The strategy is based upon key factors which are used to assess the potential for a chemical to attenuate or change its phase or medium, as part of its fate and transport pathway. The eight key coefficients are described, knowledge of which will assist in determining whether a chemical will result in a fate and exposure pathway change and/or attenuate, as a means of developing a strategy to assess the risks of emerging contaminants. The need for attention to this next water revolution to develop a strategy to assess some of the risks of emerging contaminants is already upon us.

Keywords: emerging contaminants; fate and transport; PCBs; attenuation; octanol partitioning; adsorption; biodegradation; volatilization