Emerging Contaminants in Soil and Water: Challenges and Management

Soils and water are contaminated by many natural and anthropogenic sources of emerging contaminants (ECs) at concentrations that can present a significant risk to the environment and human health. The ECs problems have caused great concern among those who are interested, such as environmental agencies, because of the huge number of contaminated sites in industrialized and urban areas. Environmental contamination such as cultivation practices or production processes and other sources repeatedly enter the soil and water. This may occur either via usual management practices or via accident. The basic concept of ECs is described as unregulated and new toxicant residues that potentially affect human health and have recently been discovered, thus, they can be transferred into the ecosystem and food chains, thus posing a hazard to the environment and human health. The ECs involve many materials such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PCP), trace elements, brominated flame retardants, hormone-disrupting substances, etc. Due to their bioactivity, stability, and possible bioaccumulation of these numerous substances, interest is rising in their probable harmful influences on human health and ecosystems. Such contaminants are a nominee for future regulations based on their toxicity, health consequences, public awareness, and data monitoring to concern their occurrence. The current available data about the concentrations of many ECs in the environment is relatively fragmented and not regularized which may hamper the assessment of environmental risks. This chapter provides a framework for anticipating emerging contaminants so that the risks, whether to human health or the environment, can be predicted and appropriately managed.