Emerging groundwater contaminants: A comprehensive review on their health hazards and remediation technologies

Most of the water systems that sustain the ecosystems and feed the growing human population are decreasing or stressed day by day. Groundwater is considered a reliable source of fresh water and its availability is usually regulated by aquifer characteristics, topography, sub-surface activities, climate, and several geochemical pro-cesses. The major emerging contaminants (ECs) come from antibiotics, fire retardants, pesticides, sunscreens, disinfection byproducts, sediments, organic carbon, pathogens, metals, surfactants, and drug residues. The ECs can enter the environment and cause adverse human health or ecological effects. The contaminants leached to groundwater from livestock farming, industrial wastewater, and through the application of fertilizer, pesticides, and slurries to agricultural land, are also responsible for groundwater pollution. The adjoining areas nearby landfills have a greater probability of groundwater contamination of heavy metals originating from the neigh-boring dumping sites. Knowledge about the concentration, behavior, and cycling of contaminants and their degradation pathways is essential to remediate these contaminants from different sources. To reduce the risk of groundwater contamination, the following measures like limiting and optimizing the organic and inorganic fertilizer application timing to crops, disposal of pesticide waste, and discarding empty containers should be as per safety guidelines. Effective irrigation systems will significantly reduce the passage of pesticides and fertilizers to aquatic ecosystems. This paper aims o describe the occurrence and fate of emerging groundwater contami-nants (EGCs) and their possible remediation.