Removal of pharmaceuticals from municipal wastewater by aerated submerged attached growth reactors

A systematic review on the current situation of emerging pollutants in Mexico: A perspective on policies, regulation, detection, and elimination in water and wastewater

Emerging pollutants (EPs) emerged as a group of new compounds whose presence in the environment has been widely detected in Mexico. In this country, different concentrations of pharmaceutical compounds, pesticides, dyes, and microplastics have been reported, which vary depending on the region and the analyzed matrix (i.e., wastewater, surface water, groundwater). The evidence of the EPs' presence focuses on the detection of them, but there is a gap in information regarding is biomonitoring and their effects in health in Mexico. The presence of these pollutants in the country associated with lack of proper regulations in the discharge and disposal of EPs. Therefore, this review aims to provide a comprehensive view of the current environmental status, policies, and frameworks regarding Mexico's situation. The review also highlights the lack of information about biomonitoring since EPs are present in water even after their treatment, leading to a critical situation, which is high exposure to humans and animals. Although, technologies to efficiently eliminate EPs are available, their application has been reported only at a laboratory scale thus far. Here, an overview of health and environmental impacts and a summary of the research works reported in Mexico from 2014 to 2023 were presented. This review concludes with a concrete point of view and perspective on the status of the EPs' research in Mexico as an alert for government entities about the necessity of measures to control the EPs disposal and treatment.

Principal component analysis as a criterion for monitoring variable organic load of swine wastewater in integrated biological reactors UASB, SABF and HSSF-CW

The multivariate analysis to optimize the parameters of wastewater is essential to reduce costs. The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of multivariate and conventional analysis in biological system composed by upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB), submerged aerated biological filters (SABF) and horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland (HSSF-CW) reactors in the organic stabilization of swine wastewater (SW). Four loads were used in the system with alteration by COD concentration of untreated SW, and the data were evaluated by principal components (PCA). The average efficiency of COD and BOD removal increased from 45% in phase I to 67% in phase IV in the UASB, SABF and HSSF-CW reactors. The principal component analysis promoted the reduction of 13 original variables to 5, 8 and 5 principal components in the UASB, SABF and HSSF-CW reactors, respectively, optimizing the dynamics of interpretation of the data that influenced the most the stability of the wastewater system across the four phases. There was a strong negative effect of oxygen concentrations in the SABF reactor in relation to organic variables, optimizing the biological mechanisms of the HSSF-CW and, therefore, enabling better decision making and cost reduction with analysis at treatment plants.

Pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environments: Evidence of emerged threat and future challenges for marine organisms

Pharmaceuticals are nowadays recognized as a threat for aquatic ecosystems. The growing consumption of these compounds and the enhancement of human health in the past two decades have been paralleled by the continuous input of such biologically active molecules in natural environments. Waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) have been identified as a major route for release of pharmaceuticals in aquatic bodies where concentrations ranging from ng/L to μg/L are ubiquitously detected. Since medicines principles are designed to be effective at very low concentrations, they have the potential to interfere with biochemical and physiological processes of aquatic species over their entire life cycle. Investigations on occurrence, bioaccumulation and effects in non target organisms are fragmentary, particularly for marine ecosystems, and related to only a limited number over the 4000 substances classified as pharmaceuticals: hence, there is a urgent need to prioritize the environmental sustainability of the most relevant compounds. The aim of this review is to summarize the main adverse effects documented for marine species exposed in both field and laboratory conditions to different classes of pharmaceuticals including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, psychiatric, cardiovascular, hypocholesterolaemic drugs, steroid hormones and antibiotics. Despite a great scientific advancement has been achieved, our knowledge is still limited on pharmaceuticals behavior in chemical mixtures, as well as their interactions with other environmental stressors. Complex ecotoxicological effects are increasingly documented and multidisciplinary, integrated approaches will be helpful to clarify the environmental hazard of these "emerged" pollutants in marine environment.