Emerging contaminants in Indian environmental matrices – A review

Municipal solid waste biochar-bentonite composite for the removal of antibiotic ciprofloxacin from aqueous media

“…In the recent past, antibiotics have emerged as an important group of environmental pollutants that is extremely challenging to remediate in the water systems (Kanakaraju et al, 2018;Philip et al, 2018). Extensive usage of antibiotics in human and veterinary medicines have revolutionized treatment of diseases, and are mostly used as inhibitors and biocides of pathogenic microorganisms.…”

“…Thus, these organic pollutants have been considered as contaminants of emerging concern since the last two decades (Kanakaraju et al, 2018;Oberlé et al, 2012;Sanderson et al, 2016). They have been listed as priority risk group of contaminants due to their toxicity to algae and bacteria even at nanogram level of concentration creating a disturbance in the natural ecosystems (Huang et al, 2017;Philip et al, 2018;Yi et al, 2017).…”

Organic micropollutants in groundwater of India—A review

“…India is the largest user of groundwater, and about 80% of its rural population and 50% of its urban population use groundwater for domestic purposes without any treatment (Chakraborti, Das, & Murrill, ). Many studies on the presence of micropollutants in surface water bodies, soil, sediment, air, and sludge have been carried out in India (Gani & Kazmi, ; Philip, Aravind, & Aravindakumar, ). Agarwal, Prajapati, Singh, Raza, and Thakur () reviewed the various studies on the occurrence of pesticides in water from different parts of India.…”

The occurrence of antibiotic resistance genes in tap water – a review

“…Nevertheless, the second approach may include the identification of all microorganisms to species, genes in the request and their amounts and, most importantly, does not demand the cultivation of bacteria in laboratory conditions, what in fact almost always leads to omitting many unculturable or non-viable species [35]. Moreover, the presence of free DNA, released from bacterial cells due to various processes, could be regarded as a dangerous contaminant itself [22], serving as a transferable element in the phenomenon of transformation (i.e. uptake and incorporation of DNA in a cell).…”

“…However, the transformation is the most important, as in consequence of contact with ARGs, initially pathogenic, but susceptible (curable) strains may become pathogenic and resistant [6,16]. From this point of view, these genes could be regarded as the new contaminants [9,22] and should be mandatorily monitored and suppressed. In view of the fact, that drinking water is one of the main sources of potable water, its highest quality should be provided regardless of other factors.…”