Contamination of emerging contaminants in Indian aquatic sources: First overview of the situation

This paper provides a first review of the contamination level of emerging contaminants (ECs) in aquatic sources of India. Contaminants reported so far belong to pesticides, pharmaceuticals, personal care products (PCPs), surfactants, and phthalates. A total of 41 publications are reported with a maximum share of pesticides (57%) followed by pharmaceuticals (17%), surfactants (15%), PCPs (7%), and phthalates (5%). The concentration of detected contaminants in all aquatic sources range as not detected (ND) to 10,000 ng/L (pesticides), ND to 14 × 106 ng/L (pharmaceuticals), ND to 5,160 ng/L (PCPs), 1.3 × 106 to 6.2 × 106 ng/L (surfactants), and ND to 0.2 × 106 ng/L (phthalates). In surface water and treated wastewater, the maximum concentration of pesticides exceed their prescribed environmental quality standards. Pharmaceuticals such as cetirizine, ciprofloxacin, and citalopram are present up to 2.1 × 106 ng/L, 14 × 106 ng/L, and 0.4 × 106 ng/L, respectively, in treated wastewater, which is the highest measured concentration. A higher risk (hazards quotient > 1) to aquatic organisms in surface water has been reported for PCPs, surfactants, and phthalates. The review can act as a framework to nurture future research and regulatory initiatives for monitoring of ECs in remaining aquatic sources.