Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Soil and Water Environment

Dear Colleagues,

Ordinarily, concerns about the impacts of chemicals on soil and water have focused on traditional chemicals such as nutrients, heavy metals, pesticides, and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). More recently, however, there has been an increasing concern about other chemicals, so-called contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), for which much additional research needs to be conducted regarding relevant analytics, environmental concentrations, legislation, and (eco)toxicological effects. Even the definition of CECs has yet reach a consensus, but the term is usually used to refer to human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, nanomaterials, personal care products, hormones, and a wide range of industrial xenobiotics such as flame retardants and plasticizers. Ever greater amounts of CECs will be released into the environment in the future, and industrial R&D is far ahead of regulators and academia in this matter. It is very important that the science remain up-to-date, investigating this topic, helping regulators to protect the environment from potential problems associated with the presence of CECs.

This Special Issue welcomes studies on the presence of CECs in the different environments (e.g., soil, surface waters, sediments, groundwaters, drinking waters), from monitoring, degradation, and persistence studies to (eco)toxicological research. The routes of these contaminants into the environment (e.g., wastewater discharge, sludge/biosolid, compost, or manure application to soil, wastewater irrigation, plant protection products), are a very important issue, as are the strategies required to cope with the risk of their entry into or persistence in the environment.

Dr. Paula Alvarenga
Prof. Dr. Patrícia Palma
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• pharmaceuticals
• nanomaterials
• personal care products
• hormones
• flame retardants
• plasticizers
• per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs)
• microplastics
• abiotic compartments