Emerging Pollutants from Urbanization and Industrialization in the Global South

Emerging pollutants (EPs) in water have emerged as a major environmental problem across the world. There are many different kinds of toxins in the environment, including metals, organic pollutants (OPs), inorganic pollutants (IOPs), and emerging pollutants. For over a decade, scientists have studied many pollutants, but the ones that are growing at an alarming rate are those that originate from the medicine, cosmetic item, medical waste, and synthetic fertilizers. There is widespread worry about the existence of emerging pollutants (EPs) in water bodies and the damage they cause to ecosystems everywhere. These EPs include pharmaceutically active substances, cosmetics, insecticides, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and many more. As such, a major focus of environmental management is on the elimination of these long-lasting and environmentally harmful chemicals from effluents. Many of these harmful substances are found in the environment at concentrations that are several orders of magnitude higher than the no-effect concentration and the estimated water-related equivalency level in various parts of the world. Since numerous EPs are resistant to standard biological methods and even biocidal agents, a combination of modern scientific methods and both chemical and physical procedures is starting to look like the best bet for therapy. In this chapter, we discuss numerous biological procedures along with unified therapy approaches, focusing on their conceptualization and operating characteristics, removal protocols, and the importance of strategies aimed at boosting EP clearance. When it comes to removing EPs, a mix of both biological and chemical solutions has proven to be the most effective, with some even attaining 100% elimination in field-scale setups. This chapter provides a summary of the literature on the origins, routes, and ecotoxicological consequences of numerous EPs as well as the methods used to control them. This study stimulates investigation and its implementation in the context of the treatment and management of EPs and offers regulators and water technologists a practical response.