Abstract:
Emerging contaminants (ECs) such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, endocrine
disrupting chemicals (EDCs), microplastics, and industrial additives are increasingly being
discovered in surface waters globally. These unregulated and persistent pollutants
originate from diverse sources including urban wastewater, agricultural runoff, and
industrial effluents. Even though there have been extensive studies on ECs in marine and
soil matrices, their presence, migration, and monitoring in surface freshwater systems
remain a growing concern. The aim of this systematic review is to identify the major sources
and types of ECs in surface waters, summarize their ecological and health impacts on
humans, and assess conventional and emerging methods for monitoring ECs. The PRISMA
guideline was used to ease the review process. Fourty peer-reviewed papers between 2010
and 2024 were examined, selected from Scopus, ScienceDirect, SpringerLink and Wiley
Online Library databases using keywords including "emerging contaminants," "surface
water," "monitoring techniques," "ecological impacts," and "wastewater pollution." The
findings highlight wastewater outfalls, agricultural pesticides, and industrial effluents as
dominant sources. ECs enter water bodies via runoff, leaching, sewer overflow, and
atmospheric deposition. ECs pose grave health issues such as hormonal interference,
reproductive disorders, and antibiotic resistance in human beings, as well as endocrine
dysfunction and death in aquatic organisms. Classical methods such as gas
chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and liquid chromatography (LC-MS/MS) are
precise and costly and require a lot of time. New technologies such as biosensors and
remote sensing approaches using UAVs are being developed as potential alternatives for
bulk, real-time surveillance. EC pollution control requires a multi-dimensional approach,
including regulation, technological advancement, and awareness among the public. This
review necessitates the construction of sustainable water monitoring systems to ensure
the integrity of aquatic ecosystems and human health.
