Pollutants in Soil and Groundwater, Effects and Strategies for Comprehensive Risk Assessment

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Exposome Analysis and Risk Assessment".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 440

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Resources and Environment, Shandong Agricultural University, Tai'an 271000, China
Interests: environmental monitoring and assessment; trace metals biogeochemistry; ecotoxicology and risk assessment; environmental remediation of soil
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Resources and Environment, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei 230036, China
Interests: environmental geochemistry; metal isotopes; pollution source apportionment

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Guest Editor
School of Biology, Food and Environment, Hefei University, Hefei 230000, China
Interests: solid waste; biochar; heavy metals; resource recovery and disposal; environmental risk assessment

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Guest Editor
School of Environment, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Interests: organic pollutants; advanced oxidation; photochemical transformation; photocatalysis; theoretical calculation
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soil and groundwater are critical components of the Earth's ecosystem, playing vital roles in sustaining life, supporting agriculture, and maintaining ecological balance. However, the increasing presence of pollutants in these resources poses significant threats to environmental health, human well-being, and biodiversity. Contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides, industrial chemicals, and emerging pollutants (e.g., microplastics and pharmaceuticals) have been widely detected in soil and groundwater systems worldwide. These pollutants can persist in the environment, accumulate in the food chain, and lead to long-term ecological and health risks. Understanding their sources, transport mechanisms, fate, and effects is essential for developing effective strategies to mitigate their impacts and ensure sustainable resource management.

This Special Issue, titled "Pollutants in Soil and Groundwater, Effects and Strategies for Comprehensive Risk Assessment", aims to provide a platform for researchers, scientists, and practitioners to share their latest findings, innovative methodologies, and comprehensive risk assessment frameworks addressing soil and groundwater contamination. The issue will focus on the identification, monitoring, and evaluation of pollutants, their ecological and human health impacts, and the development of mitigation and remediation strategies. By fostering interdisciplinary collaboration, this Special Issue seeks to advance our understanding of the complex interactions between pollutants and environmental systems, ultimately contributing to the protection and restoration of soil and groundwater resources.

We invite submissions of original research articles, reviews, and case studies that address topics including, but not limited to, the following:

  1. Sources and Pathways of Pollutants in Soil and Groundwater.
  2. Ecological and Human Health Impacts.
  3. Monitoring and Analytical Techniques.
  4. Risk Assessment and Management.
  5. Mitigation and Remediation Strategies.
  6. Emerging Pollutants and Future Challenges.

We look forward to your submissions and to advancing the scientific discourse on this critical topic.

Dr. Zhongkang Yang
Dr. Wenhan Cheng
Dr. Zhuding Chu
Dr. Ruijuan Qu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soil and groundwater pollution
  • risk assessment
  • ecological and human health impacts
  • remediation strategies
  • emerging pollutants
  • environmental monitoring

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

19 pages, 13573 KiB  
Article
Risk Assessment of Dynamic Diffusion of Urban Non-Point Source Pollution Under Extreme Rainfall
by Ting Wen, Chuanxun Li, Jiawen Liu and Peng Wang
Toxics 2025, 13(5), 385; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics13050385 - 9 May 2025
Viewed by 187
Abstract
With the acceleration of urbanization, the diffusion mechanism of urban non-point source (NPS) pollution caused by extreme rainfall is not clear, which leads to high cost and difficulty in water environment treatment. In view of the shortcomings of dynamic diffusion simulations of mesoscale [...] Read more.
With the acceleration of urbanization, the diffusion mechanism of urban non-point source (NPS) pollution caused by extreme rainfall is not clear, which leads to high cost and difficulty in water environment treatment. In view of the shortcomings of dynamic diffusion simulations of mesoscale pollution, this paper proposes a simulation framework based on cellular automata, GIS geographic technology, and a two-dimensional shallow water model. Taking the 500 m × 500 m grid as the unit, we explore the migration laws of nitrogen and phosphorus pollutants and the response relationship between pollutant diffusion and land use under extreme rainfall scenarios. The results show that (i) the pollution risk increases significantly with diffusion, with the maximum pollution load in high-risk areas increasing by 181%, and the diffusion rate is positively correlated with the rate of change in rainfall intensity; (ii) forest land has the highest grid pollution load loss rate, whereas the water grid has the highest accumulation rate; (iii) this method can accurately identify the hot spots of pollution diffusion, providing a basis for the precise control of high-risk areas. This study can support the targeted governance of pollution sources and land planning optimization in urban storm and flood management, and help reduce environmental health risks in extreme climates. Full article
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