The aim of this study was to gain an understanding of the transport of C4–10 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and C4,6,8 perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acids (PFSAs) in a water-saturated sediment column representing a riverbank filtration scenario under near-natural conditions. Short-chain PFCAs and PFSAs with up to six C-atoms showed complete tracer-like breakthrough. Longer chain ones were retarded due to sorption to the sediment or due to other processes in the aqueous phase. The study reports the first column derived sediment–water partition coefficients ranging from 0.01 cm3 g−1 to 0.41 cm3 g−1 for C4,6 PFSAs and from 0.0 cm3 g−1 to 6.5 cm3 g−1 for C4,5,6,8,9 PFCAs. The results clearly indicate that short-chain PFCAs and PFSAs may pose a problem if contaminated surface waters are used for drinking water production via riverbank filtration.

PFC serum concentrations were measured in 6–8 year-old girls in Greater Cincinnati (GC) (N = 353) and the San Francisco Bay Area (SFBA) (N = 351). PFOA median concentration was lower in the SFBA than GC (5.8 vs. 7.3 ng/mL). In GC, 48/51 girls living in one area had PFOA concentrations above the NHANES 95th percentile for children 12–19 years (8.4 ng/mL), median 22.0 ng/mL. The duration of being breast fed was associated with higher serum PFOA at both sites and with higher PFOS, PFHxS and Me-PFOSA-AcOH concentrations in GC. Correlations of the PFC analytes with each other suggest that a source upriver from GC may have contributed to exposures through drinking water, and water treatment with granular activated carbon filtration resulted in less exposure for SWO girls compared to those in NKY. PFOA has been characterized as a drinking water contaminant, and water treatment systems effective in removing PFCs will reduce body burdens.

We monitored 108 children ≤5 years on a 6-month basis for up to 5 years in a major urban setting. Samples (n ∼ 7000) included blood, urine, handwipes (interior, and after exterior playing), 6-day duplicate diet, drinking water, interior house and day care dust-fall accumulation using petri dishes, exterior dust-fall accumulation, exterior dust sweepings, paint, soil and urban air. The geometric mean blood Pb (PbB) was 2.1 μg/dL and blood Mn (MnB) was 10.0 μg/L. Following a path modelling approach, mixed model analyses for a fully adjusted model showed the strongest associations for PbB were with interior house dust and soil; for MnB there were no significant associations with any predictors. Predictor variables only explained 9% of the variance for Pb and 0.7% for Mn. Relationships between environmental measures and PbB in children are not straightforward; soil and dust sweepings contribute only about 1/5th of the amounts to PbB found in other studies.

Speciation of inorganic trivalent arsenicals (iAsIII), inorganic pentavalent arsenicals (iAsV), monomethylarsonic acid (MMA) and dimethylarsinic acid (DMA) in total arsenic (As) content and its bioaccessible fractions contained in road dust, household air-conditioning (AC) filter dust and PM2.5 was investigated. Inorganic As, especially iAsV, was observed as the dominant species. Physiologically based extraction test (PBET), an in-vitro gastrointestinal method, was used to estimate the oral As bioaccessibility in coarse particles and the species present in the oral bioaccessible fraction. A composite lung simulating serum was used to mimic the pulmonary condition to extract the respiratory bioaccessible As and its species in PM2.5. Reduction of iAsV to iAsIII occurred in both in-vitro gastrointestinal and lung simulating extraction models. The inorganic As species was the exclusive species for absorption through ingestion and inhalation of atmospheric particles, which was an important exposure route to inorganic As, in addition to drinking water and food consumption.

We investigated effects of storage temperature and duration on release of antimony (Sb) and bisphenol A (BPA) from 16 brands of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drinking water bottles in China. After 1-week storage, Sb release increased from 1.88–8.32 ng/L at 4 °C, to 2.10–18.4 ng/L at 25 °C and to 20.3–2604 ng/L at 70 °C. The corresponding releases for BPA were less at 0.26–18.7, 0.62–22.6, and 2.89–38.9 ng/L. Both Sb and BPA release increased with storage duration up to 4-week, but their releasing rates decreased with storage time, indicating that Sb and BPA release from PET bottles may become stable under long term storage. Human health risk was evaluated based on the worst case, i.e., storage at 70 °C for 4-week. Chronic daily intake (CDI) caused by BPA release was below USEPA regulation, Sb release in one brand exceeded USEPA regulated CDI (400 ng/kg bw/d) with values of 409 and 1430 ng/kg bw/d for adult and children.

We measured concentrations of 56 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in effluent samples from 50 large wastewater treatment plants across the US. Hydrochlorothiazide was found in every sample. Metoprolol, atenolol, and carbamazepine were found in over 90% of the samples. Valsartan had the highest concentration (5300 ng/L), and also had the highest average concentration (1600 ng/L) across all 50 samples. Estimates of potential risks to healthy human adults were greatest for six anti-hypertensive APIs (lisinopril, hydrochlorothiazide, valsartan, atenolol, enalaprilat, and metoprolol), but nevertheless suggest risks of exposure to individual APIs as well as their mixtures are generally very low. Estimates of potential risks to aquatic life were also low for most APIs, but suggest more detailed study of potential ecological impacts from four analytes (sertraline, propranolol, desmethylsertraline, and valsartan).

Antibiotics have been used as medical remedies for over 50years and have recently emerged as new pollutants in the environment. This review encompasses the fate of several antibiotics in the environment, including sulfonamides, nitrofurans, terfenadines, cephalosporins and cyclosporins. It investigates the cycle of transfer from humans and animals including their metabolic transformation. The results show that antibiotic metabolites are of considerable persistence and are localized to ground-water and drinking water supplies. Furthermore, the results also show that several phases of the cycle of antibiotics in the environment are not well understood, such as how low concentrations of antibiotic metabolites in the diet affect humans and animals. This review also shows that improved wastewater decontamination processes are remediating factors for these emerging pollutants. The results obtained here may help legislators and authorities in understanding the fate and transformation of antibiotics in the environment.

Drinking water shortage has become worse in recent decades. A new capacitive deionization (CDI) method for increasing water supplies through the effective desalination of seawater has been developed. Silver as nano Ag and Ag@C which was prepared by carbonization of the Ag+-β-cyclodextrin complex at 573K for 30min can add the antimicrobial function into the CDI process. The Ag@C and Ag nanoparticles dispersed on reduced graphene oxide (Ag@C/rGO and nano Ag/rGO) were used as the CDI electrodes. The nano Ag/rGO and Ag@C/rGO electrodes can reduce the charging resistant, and enhance the electrosorption capability. Better CDI efficiencies with the nano Ag/rGO and Ag@C/rGO electrodes can therefore be obtained. When reversed the voltage, the electrodes can be recovered up to 90% within 5min. This work presents the feasibility for the nano Ag and Ag@C on rGO electrodes applied in CDI process to produce drinking water from seawater or saline water.

Harmful algae blooms (HABs), often composed of oceanic plants called phytoplankton, are potentially harmful to the marine life, water quality, human health, and desalination plants, a chief source of potable water in the Arabian Gulf. The last decade has seen a noticeable increase in the frequency of HAB outbreaks in the Arabian Seas. This increase is mainly caused by the unprecedented economic growth in the region. The increased human activities in the region have added more stress to the marine environment and contributed to the changes observed in the properties of the marine ecosystem: high temperature and salinity, high evaporation rates, limited freshwater inflow, shallow nature, pollution. However, very few studies that cover the HAB outbreaks, causes, impacts and biological characteristics over the region have been published. This work presents a comprehensive overview of historical HAB outbreaks recorded in the region, and investigate their causes and impact, and seasonal variability.

Adsorption onto powdered activated carbon (PAC) is a promising option to remove organic micro-pollutants (OMP) from drinking water sources or wastewater. Since this treatment option requires continuous PAC dosing, sufficient contact time and subsequent separation of the PAC, the integration into existing process chains is challenging. In the present investigation, the pre-loading of a deep bed filter with PAC used as fixed bed adsorber was investigated. The retention and distribution of an exemplary PAC in a pumice rapid filter were determined. Gravimetry combined with combustion of the PAC at 550 °C was applied to differentiate between PAC and filter material residues and revealed comparably high PAC immobilization in the upper third of the pumice filter. Comparative adsorption experiments in batch with suspended PAC and continuous filtration tests with immobilized PAC showed advantageous results for immobilized PAC with regard to the removal of OMP and the sum parameters dissolved organic carbon and UV light absorption at 254 nm wavelength. The results indicate that a conventional rapid filter together with PAC can be effectively utilized as fixed bed adsorption filter.