ABSTRACT
Recently, emerging contaminants (ECs) in soil and groundwater have received intensive attention due to their potential impacts on ecological systems and on human health in the long run. To address the concern we confronted, some essential aspects on ECs were discussed here including the source, occurrence, pathways, adverse effects, ecological risk assessment, regulation, and remediation technologies. ECs enter soil and groundwater via both point and non-point sources, such as the discharges from livestock and poultry farming, the pharmaceutical industry, medical and health care industry, and the run-off from contaminated soil, etc. Inevitably these pollutants migrate, permutate, and transport between soil zone and groundwater and part of them reach surface water. They have shown detrimental influences on the quality of soil and groundwater directly and adverse effects on the inhabited living organisms. Risks for human beings come from the contaminated soil and groundwater and surface. The risks need to be assessed comprehensively through the exposure concentration analyses, effect concentration analyses, and risk characterizations. However, the mismatching between current regulatory approaches and the rapid surge of chemicals is becoming a huge challenge for researchers, managers, and politicians. Remediation of ECs in soil and groundwater has attracted extensive attention and is an urgent call for the research community and for governors. However, traditional disposal and treatment methods used for conventional organic chemicals are mainly adapted and employed for ECs due to slow-paced progress on ECs management. Generally, these technologies aim to reduce the concentration/activity of EC pollutants through physical, chemical, biological, and ecological principles and combination methods. Several novel treatment methods which we employed in our work were introduced here with schematic diagrams. Moreover, the effects of the remediation methods on the expected EC detoxification effects are also discussed.
