Pharmaceuticals and personal care products as emerging contaminants: Need for combined treatment strategy

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are distinct group of chemicals, specifically referred to as emerging environmental contaminants because of their intrinsic capacity to trigger diverse physiological effects in humans. Numerous research investigations have confirmed the existence of PPCPs in diverse environmental matrices, which provokes worry about prospective severe implications to biodiversity and humans. For this reason, this manuscript reviews the present state-of-the-art information on PPCPs in aquatic environment. The environment risk associated with abundance of PPCPs was established based on occurrence, toxicity, and bioaccumulation. Existing information regarding the sources, migration, and degradation of these contaminants in the environment was provided. Subsequently, a comprehensive information concerning global PPCPs concentration in the aquatic environment was also provided. Carbamazepine appears to be the most persistent PPCPs judging from reports in literature based on different treatment strategies. A combined treatment strategy is recommended for improved removal efficiency of PPCPs in environmental media especially persistent PPCPs. A combination of microbial degradation with other treatment technologies will be the most effective for improved PPCPs eradication.