One of the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations has been " To ensure environmental sustainability " , which includes the target of a 50% reduction by 2015 of " …the proportion of the population without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation ". This year 147 countries have met the drinking water target, 95 countries have met the sanitation target, and 77 cou...

Microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP), an emerging technology for soil improvement, also may be used to sequester (biomineralize) radionuclides and metal contaminants (e.g., 90 Sr 2+ , Cd 2+ ) in groundwater, a significant problem at some U.S. Department of Energy sites. Previous work using the bacterium Bacillus pasteurii suggests that in-situ sequestration of these contaminants c...

There are many potential sources of chemical constituents and contaminants in water that can reach drinking water. Not all substances will be present in any particular water. Some substances may be of benefit to health but others can be a threat. However, very few have been clearly shown to cause adverse health effects in humans through drinking water and evidence may be complicated by simult...

Understanding the processes involved in the uptake and accumulation of organic contaminants into plants is very important to assess the possible human risk associated with. Biodegradation of emerging contaminants in plants has been observed, but kinetical studies are rare. In this study, we analyse experimental data on the uptake of emerging organic contaminants into lettuce derived in a greenh...

Microbiological drinking water safety is traditionally monitored mainly by bacterial parameters that indicate faecal contamination. These parameters correlate with gastro-intestinal illness, despite the fact that viral agents, resulting from faecal contamination, are usually the cause. This leaves behind microbes that can cause illness other than gastro-intestinal and several emerging pathogens...

The presence of emerging contaminants in municipal wastewaters, particularly endocrine-disrupting compounds such as oestrogenic substances, has been the focus of much public concern and scientific attention in recent years. Due to the scientific uncertainty still surrounding their effects, the Precautionary Principle could be invoked for the interim management of potential risks. Therefore, pre...

This study was designed to assess the occurrence and concentrations of a broad range of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) from three local estuaries within a large estuarine ecosystem. In addition to effluent from two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP), we sampled water and whole-body juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and Pacific staghorn sculpin (Leptocottus armatus) in ...

The research in this Thesis has been mainly performed at the research group Trataguas, from the Departamento de Ingeniería Química y Química Física of the Universidad de Extremadura. It is a part of an extensive research program on the elimination of emerging contaminants (ECs) in water through the application of advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), being developed by the Trataguas group and fi...