• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.391-407
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• 2013

Micropollutants emerge in surface water through untreated discharge from sewage and wastewater treatment plants (STPs and WWTPs). Most micropollutants resist the conventional systems in place at water treatment plants (WTPs) and survive the production of tap water. In particular, pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors (ECDs) are micropollutants frequently detected in drinking water. In this review, we summarized the distribution of micropollutants at WTPs and also scrutinized the effectiveness and mechanisms for their removal at each stage of drinking water production. Micropollutants demonstrated clear concentrations in the final effluents of WTPs. Although chronic exposure to micropollutants in drinking water has unclear adverse effects on humans, peer reviews have argued that continuous accumulation in water environments and inappropriate removal at WTPs has the potential to eventually affect human health. Among the available removal mechanisms for micropollutants at WTPs, coagulation alone is unlikely to eliminate the pollutants, but ionized compounds can be adsorbed to natural particles (e.g. clay and colloidal particles) and metal salts in coagulants. Hydrophobicities of micropollutants are a critical factor in adsorption removal using activated carbon. Disinfection can reduce contaminants through oxidation by disinfectants (e.g. ozone, chlorine and ultraviolet light), but unidentified toxic byproducts may result from such treatments. Overall, the persistence of micropollutants in a treatment system is based on the physico-chemical properties of chemicals and the operating conditions of the processes involved. Therefore, monitoring of WTPs and effective elimination process studies for pharmaceuticals and ECDs are required to control micropollutant contamination of drinking water.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.319-332
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• 2016

Micropollutants are often discharged to surface waters through untreated wastewater from sewage treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants. The presence of micropollutants in surface waters is a serious concern because surface water is usually provided to water treatment plants (WTP) to produce drinking water. Many micropollutants can withstand conventional WTP systems and stay in tap water. In particular, pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors are examples of micropollutants that are detected at the drinking water, ppb, or even ppb level. A variety of techniques and processes, especially advanced oxidation processes, have been applied to remove micropollutants from water to control drinking water contamination. This paper reviews recent researches on the occurrence and removal of micropollutants in the aquatic environments and during water treatment processes.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.215-219
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• 2009

Micropollutants, which can be caused by imperfect combustion, are toxic chemical compound that flows into the river system after being contained in road runoff, a non-point source pollutant and accumulates in the body. The micropollutants that have characteristics such as toxicity, persistence, bio-accumulation, long-range transportation behave so similarly to micro particles that they can be removed by means of filtration or absorption. This study has examined the kinds and concentrations of micropollutants contained in deposited road particles. It has revealed that the kinds of micropollutants contained in the clarified supernatant liquid of deposited road particles are heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs) composed of two or three benzene rings, including naphthalene and acenaphthalene. Their concentrations have been shown to be low, with 0.418 mg/L, 0.058 mg/L, 0.104 mg/L, 0.014 mg/L, 0.00075 mg/L for Zn, Pb, Cu, Cr, Cd, respectively and 0.00156 mg/L and 0.00184 mg/L for naphthalene and acenaphthalene.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.205-225
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• 2021

Due to the large-scale production and use of synthetic chemicals in industralized countries, various chemicals are found in the aquatic environment, which are often termed as micropollutants. Effluents of municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as one of the major sources of these micropollutants. In this article, the current status of occurrence and removal of micropollutants in WWTPs and their management policies and options in domestic and foregin countries were critically reviewed. A large number of pharmaceuticals, personal care products, and industrial chemicals are found in WWTPs' influent, and are only partially removed by current biological wastewater treatment processes. As a result, some micropollutants are present in WWTPs' effluents, which can negatively affect receiving water quality or drinking water source. To better understand and assess the potential risk of micropollutants, a systematic monitoring framework including advanced analytical tools such as high resolution mass spectrometry and bioanalytical methods is needed. Some Western European countries are taking proactive approach to controlling the micropollutants by upgrading WWTP with enahnced effluent treatment processes. While this enahnced WWTP effluent treatment appears to be a viable option for controlling micropollutant, its implementation requires careful consideration of the technical, economical, political, and cultural issues of all stakeholders.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.643-651
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• 2006

This study investigated the distributive property of micropollutants in sediment around Gwang-yang bay using simultaneous analytical method of 310 chemicals. In the results, the major micropollutants detected were CH type chemicals such as aliphatic, polycyclic compounds, benzenes, and CHN(O) type chemicals aromatic amines, and pesticides. Insecticides of pesticide type were frequently detected at all sampling site. The total concentration of micropollutants were higher in summer than in winter and measured within the range of $ND{\sim}36.50{\mu}g/L$. Also, because of effect of seomjin river, GY6 of all sampling site detected by the highest concentration, GY10 and 11 located in Gwang-yang outside bay were not detected the micropollutants. From the result of this study, we should estimated that the industrial complex located in Gwang-yang inside bay and an inflow of fresh water through the Seomjin river are major pollution sources of Gwang-yang bay.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.551-566
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• 2017

As the modern society is rapidly developing and people become affluent in materials, many new chemical compounds in different forms of products (e.g., antibiotics, pesticides, detergents, personal care products and plastic goods) are produced, used, and disposed of to the environments. Some of them are persistently having a harmful impact on the environment and mimicking endocrine properties; in general they are present in the environment at low concentrations, so they are called organic pollutants. These organic micropollutants flow to sewage treatment plants via different routes. In this study, the generation characteristics, exposure pathways, detection levels, and environmental impacts of organic micropollutants were critically reviewed. In addition, currently available risk assessment methods and management systems for the compounds were reviewed. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), for example, has monitored organic micropollutants and set the monitoring and management of some of the compounds as a priority. To effectively manage organic micropollutants in sewer systems, therefore, we should first monitor organic micropollutants of potential concern and then make a watch list of specific substances systematically, as described in guidelines on listing water pollutants in industrial wastewater.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.245-250
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• 2004

This study investigated the micropollutants present in raw water supplied for the several drinking water treatment plants in Seoul. The target sample waters were collected from the several sites, such as Jayang (JY), Kuui (KI), Paldang (PD) and Kangbuk (KB) at the Han-River stream. The analytical method used in this study enable us to detect about 300 kinds of chemicals commonly found in surface water at ppt level by GC-ion trap MS. In this study, the consideration on the analytic results focused on the four hazardous organics, such as benzenes, phenols, phthalates and pesticides. The numbers of each detected micropollutant were 1~8 kinds for benzenes, 1~7 kinds for phenols, 5~7 kinds for phthalates and 1~9 kinds for pesticides. For the pesticides, the higher concentration was detected in the water samples collected from PD and KB adjacent to the farming area, and at June and July, which is the busy farming season. The total concentrations of each micropollutants detected at all the sites were significantly lower than those of drinking water regulation in Korea as well as other advanced countries. However, the frequently detected micropollutants requires the steady and precise monitoring for the effective management of drinking water source.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.673-678
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• 2011

Water samples from several wastewater treatment plants and two industry drains in Gyeongsangbukdo were investigated for concentration levels of micropollutants. Samples were taken totally four times from May to November of 2008 and tested for seven factors including pesticide, 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate which had been big issues for Nakdong river because of their contaminations. As results, 2,4-D, Alachlor, and BEHA were not detected while BEHP was detected at some sampling sites. 1,4-Dioxane and Perchlorate were also detected in wide ranges from several sampling sites. Therefore, continuous supervising and monitoring systems needed to be invested for proper management for micropollutants since those micropollutants could affect human health and aquatic system with low concentration levels.

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.59-79
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• 2022

Conventional wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) do not fully remove micropollutants. Enhanced treatment of sewage effluents is being considered or implemented in some countries to minimize the discharge of problematic micropollutants from WWTPs. Representative enhanced sewage treatment technologies for micropollutant removal were reviewed, including their current status of research and development. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as ozonation and UV/H₂O₂ and adsorption processes using powdered (PAC) and granular activated carbon (GAC) were mainly discussed with focusing on process principles for the micropollutant removal, effect of process operation and water matrix factors, and technical and economic feasibility. Pilot- and full-scale studies have shown that ozonation, PAC, and GAC can achieve significant elimination of various micropollutants at economically feasible costs(0.16-0.29 €/m³). Considering the current status of domestic WWTPs, ozonation and PAC were found to be the most feasible options for the enhanced sewage effluent treatment. Although ozonation and PAC are all mature technologies, a range of technical aspects should be considered for their successful application, such as energy consumption, CO₂ emission, byproduct or waste generation, and ease of system construction/operation/maintenance. More feasibility studies considering domestic wastewater characteristics and WWTP conditions are required to apply ozonation or PAC/GAC adsorption process to enhance sewage effluent treatment in Korea.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.41 no.11
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• pp.318-327
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• 2017

Background: A typical sewage treatment plant is designed for organic and nutrient removal from municipal sewage water and not targeted to eliminate micropollutants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and nano-sized metals which become a big concern for sustainable human and ecological system and are mainly discharged from sewage treatment plant. Therefore, despite contaminant removal by wastewater treatment processes, there are still remaining environmental risks by untreated pollutants in STP (sewage treatment plant) effluents. This study performed aquatic toxicity tests of raw wastewater and treated effluents in two sewage treatment plants to evaluate toxicity reduction by wastewater treatment process and analyze concentration of contaminants to reveal potential toxic factors in STP effluents. Methods: Water samples were collected from each treatment steps of two STPs, and acute and chronic toxicity tests were conducted following USEPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency) and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) guidelines. Endpoints were immobility for mortality and reproduction effect for estrogenicity. Results: Acute $EC_{50}s$ (median effective concentration) of influents for Seungki (SK) and Jungnang (JN) STPs are $54.13{\pm}32.64%$ and $30.38{\pm}24.96%$, respectively, and reduced to $96.49{\pm}7.84%$ and 100%. Acute toxicity reduction was clearly correlated with SS (suspended solids) concentration because of filter feeding characteristics of test organisms. Chronic toxicity tests revealed that lethal effect was reduced and low concentration of influents showed higher number of neonates. However, toxicity reduction was not related to nutrient removal. Fecundity effect positively increased in treated wastewater compared to that in raw wastewater, and no significant differences were observed compared to the control group in JN final effluent implying potential effects of estrogenic compounds in the STP effluents. Conclusions: Conventional wastewater treatment process reduced some organics and nutritional compounds from wastewater, and it results in toxicity reduction in lethal effect and positive reproductive effect but not showing correlation. Unknown estrogenic compounds could be a reason causing the increase of brood size. This study suggests that pharmaceutical residues and nanoparticles in STP effluents are one of the major micropollutants and underline as one of estrogenic effect factors.