Publication Date:
2006-08-26
Description:
The increasing worldwide contamination of freshwater systems with thousands of industrial and natural chemical compounds is one of the key environmental problems facing humanity. Although most of these compounds are present at low concentrations, many of them raise considerable toxicological concerns, particularly when present as components of complex mixtures. Here we review three scientific challenges in addressing water-quality problems caused by such micropollutants. First, tools to assess the impact of these pollutants on aquatic life and human health must be further developed and refined. Second, cost-effective and appropriate remediation and water-treatment technologies must be explored and implemented. Third, usage and disposal strategies, coupled with the search for environmentally more benign products and processes, should aim to minimize introduction of critical pollutants into the aquatic environment.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Schwarzenbach, Rene P -- Escher, Beate I -- Fenner, Kathrin -- Hofstetter, Thomas B -- Johnson, C Annette -- von Gunten, Urs -- Wehrli, Bernhard -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Aug 25;313(5790):1072-7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Eawag, Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, 8600 Dubendorf, Switzerland. rene.schwarzenbach@env.ethz.ch〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16931750" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Animals
;
Biodegradation, Environmental
;
Complex Mixtures/analysis/toxicity
;
Developing Countries
;
Ecosystem
;
Environment
;
*Fresh Water
;
Humans
;
Risk Assessment
;
Toxicity Tests
;
*Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis/classification/metabolism/toxicity
;
*Water Pollution/prevention & control
;
*Water Purification/methods
;
Water Supply
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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