Schweitzer Fachinformationen
Wenn es um professionelles Wissen geht, ist Schweitzer Fachinformationen wegweisend. Kunden aus Recht und Beratung sowie Unternehmen, öffentliche Verwaltungen und Bibliotheken erhalten komplette Lösungen zum Beschaffen, Verwalten und Nutzen von digitalen und gedruckten Medien.
Antonio Juan García-Fernández1, Silvia Espín1, Pilar Gómez-Ramírez1, Pablo Sánchez-Virosta2, and Isabel Navas1
1 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Group, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary, Biomedical Research Institute of Murcia (IMIB-Arrixaca), University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
2 Toxicology Group, Department of Health Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary, University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
Water is a scarce resource globally and the pollution-driven deterioration of its quality further limits its availability. Freshwater pollution is mainly caused by the discharge of large amounts of untreated or insufficiently treated wastewater into aquatic environments, like aquifers, rivers, lakes, and coastal waters. Therefore, water quality is an important concern around the planet and during the twenty-first century will represent one of the main challenges for our societies. This challenge will be of huge proportions in both industrialized and developing countries. However, water quality is actually not just a health issue. According to UNESCO, public health, sustainable livelihoods, gender equality, poverty reduction, conservation of the ecosystems, and equitable social and economic developments are highly dependent on water quality [1]. This should justify why in 2010 the United Nations General Assembly (RES/64/292) recognized access to clean and safe drinking water and sanitation as a human right for our health and well-being.
The water quality survey carried out in 2002 by the US Geological Survey revealed the omnipresence of pharmaceuticals and hormones in the environment [2]. Almost 30?years before, organic compounds including pharmaceuticals had already been identified in domestic wastewaters by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) [3]. However, the significant increase in the number of studies on the so-called emerging contaminants (ECs) has only been possible thanks to the technological advances in high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS) during the last two decades, achieving sufficient sensitivity to quantify organic compounds at concentrations below µg?l-1 [4].
Broadly speaking, ECs could be defined as any chemical product, whether synthetic or natural, or any microorganism with potential to induce adverse health effects on human and the environment, and for which there are no controls or regulations on their presence in the environment. Therefore, ECs constitute a heterogeneous class of pollutants, which includes different groups of contaminants such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PCPs), pesticides, flame retardants, industrial additives, surfactants, plasticizers, nanomaterials, and mycotoxins, among others (Table 1.1). Metabolites and natural hormones should also be included. In addition, it should be kept in mind that ECs suffer different processes (biodegradation, oxidation, hydrolysis, chemical reduction, and photolysis) generating other transformed products that, in some cases, are more toxic or more persistent than the parent compound [4, 5]. There are many technological obstacles to remove them with immediate effectiveness from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs), releasing them at residual concentrations into surface and groundwater. This is a cause of concern because some of them may trigger the development of antibiotic resistance in pathogen bacteria, chronic toxicity, and endocrine disruption in humans and aquatic wildlife [1, 6].
Table 1.1 List of emerging contaminants of concern in water environments.
Dateiformat: ePUBKopierschutz: Adobe-DRM (Digital Rights Management)
Systemvoraussetzungen:
Das Dateiformat ePUB ist sehr gut für Romane und Sachbücher geeignet – also für „fließenden” Text ohne komplexes Layout. Bei E-Readern oder Smartphones passt sich der Zeilen- und Seitenumbruch automatisch den kleinen Displays an. Mit Adobe-DRM wird hier ein „harter” Kopierschutz verwendet. Wenn die notwendigen Voraussetzungen nicht vorliegen, können Sie das E-Book leider nicht öffnen. Daher müssen Sie bereits vor dem Download Ihre Lese-Hardware vorbereiten.Bitte beachten Sie: Wir empfehlen Ihnen unbedingt nach Installation der Lese-Software diese mit Ihrer persönlichen Adobe-ID zu autorisieren!
Weitere Informationen finden Sie in unserer E-Book Hilfe.