A large number of micropollutants and their transformation products (veterinary and human pharmaceuticals, personal care products, pesticides and biocides, chlorinated compounds, heavy metals, emerging contaminants such as PFASs) pose a risk for soil, groundwater and surface water. The large diversity of compounds and of their sources makes the quantification of their occurrence in the terrestrial and aquatic environment across space and time a challenging task. Effective strategies to protect water resources from micropollutants are still lacking because the basic processes that contribute to their persistence and mobility in the aquatic environments are poorly understood. Innovative experimental studies in conjunction with modeling are urgently needed to fill these knowledge gaps to asses risks and develop remediation schemes.
This session invites contributions that improve our quantitative understanding of the sources and pathways, mass fluxes, the fate and transport of micropollutants in the soil-groundwater-river continuum. Topics cover:
- Novel sampling and monitoring concepts and devices
- New analytical methods for micropollutants such as non-target screening
- Experimental studies and modelling approaches to quantify diffuse and point source inputs
- Novel monitoring approaches such as non-target screening as tools for improving processes understanding and source identification such as industries
- Comparative fate studies on parent compounds and transformation products
- Diffuse sources and (re-)emerging chemicals
- Biogeochemical interactions and impact on micropollutant behaviour