Emerging Pollutants in Aquatic Environments: Detection, Risks, and Management
A Special Issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441) belonging to the section "Water Quality and Contamination".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 March 2027 | Viewed by 733
Editors
Interests: waste
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: quantum dot; solar energy; recykling; waste from photovoltaic production; wastewater from photovoltaic production; thin film and semiconductor techniques; raman spectroscopy; SEM
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The contemporary aquatic environment is facing increasing pressure from the emergence of new, multi-component, and often unknown pollutants originating from human activities, industry, agriculture, municipal services, and waste management systems. In the era of transition toward a circular economy (CE), there is a growing need for a comprehensive understanding of the sources, migration pathways, and impacts of these substances. In addition to classical emission routes, the leaching of contaminants from waste and post-consumer materials is becoming increasingly important. Leaching processes can lead to the release of pharmaceuticals, microplastics, PFAS, pesticide degradation products, metals, nanoparticles, endocrine-disrupting compounds, and a wide range of organic and inorganic substances formed secondarily during material degradation or technological processes. These new pollution streams enter surface waters, groundwater, and sewer systems, often remaining undetected. Their detection, environmental fate assessment, risk evaluation, and the development of management strategies represent some of the most significant challenges in modern environmental protection.
This Special Issue focuses on the entire life cycle of contaminants, including their emergence, identification, release and leaching, transport and transformation, effects on human health and ecosystems, and methods of mitigation, removal, and risk management. The growing diversity of materials placed on the market makes the aquatic environment a recipient of increasingly complex mixtures of substances whose impacts are difficult to predict. Secondary emissions from technical infrastructure and urbanized environments are also gaining importance, creating additional challenges for monitoring and regulatory frameworks. An important research aspect includes the identification of micro-streams of pollutants arising from the use of everyday products, including “eco” and biodegradable materials. An integrated approach—combining material, hydrological, and ecotoxicological perspectives—is essential for understanding the full scale of potential threats and designing effective preventive actions.
The aim of this Special Issue is to create a platform for interdisciplinary research integrating analytical chemistry, toxicology, ecology, environmental engineering, circular economy studies, materials science, geochemistry, hydrology, and environmental policy.
Dr. Anna Gronba-Chyła
Dr. Paweł Kwaśnicki
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
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-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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
- emerging pollutants
- water quality
- wastewater treatment
- aquatic contaminants
- environmental monitoring
- circular economy
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