Types of Water Pollutants:
Conventional and Emerging
Arif Ahamad, Sughosh Madhav, Amit K. Singh, Ashutosh Kumar
and Pardeep Singh
Abstract Among all natural resources water is the most valuable resource existing
on this planet. In present scenario, around the globe more than 0.78 billion people
do not have access to safe and potable water which ultimately deteriorating their
health. It is the right of every individual to have contamination free water but due to
rampant urbanization, industrialization and uncontrolled population growth the
pressure has been increased on existing available water resources (surface/ground
water both) which leads to shrinkage of quantity and degradation of its quality.
Various types of pollutants (organic and inorganic) released from different sources
into the environment are increasing day by day. Conventional water pollutants
include F
−
, NO 3
− , and trace heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, Zn, As, Hg, etc.), while
emerging water pollutants include steroids and hormones, endocrine disrupting
compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals & personal care products, artificial sweetener,
surfactants, etc. The existence of these cocktail of pollutants in the water resources
is more dangerous, which could lead to undesirable synergistic consequences.
Keywords Water Á Pollutants Á Trace metals Á Nitrate Á Pharmaceuticals & personal care products
1 Introduction
Water is the key constituent of all the existing lives. Being an essential component
the freshwater comprises 3% of the total water on our earth. Out of which only a
little amount (0.01%) of this fresh water is available to us for all purposes [46, 55].
A. Ahamad (&) Á S. Madhav Á A. K. Singh
School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India
e-mail: evsarif786@gmail.com
A. Kumar
Department of Geology, Institute of Science, BHU, Varanasi 221005, India
P. Singh
PGDAV College, University of Delhi, New Delhi 110065, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
D. Pooja et al. (eds.), Sensors in Water Pollutants Monitoring: Role of Material,
Advanced Functional Materials and Sensors,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0671-0_3
21
Conventional and Emerging
Arif Ahamad, Sughosh Madhav, Amit K. Singh, Ashutosh Kumar
and Pardeep Singh
Abstract Among all natural resources water is the most valuable resource existing
on this planet. In present scenario, around the globe more than 0.78 billion people
do not have access to safe and potable water which ultimately deteriorating their
health. It is the right of every individual to have contamination free water but due to
rampant urbanization, industrialization and uncontrolled population growth the
pressure has been increased on existing available water resources (surface/ground
water both) which leads to shrinkage of quantity and degradation of its quality.
Various types of pollutants (organic and inorganic) released from different sources
into the environment are increasing day by day. Conventional water pollutants
include F
−
, NO 3
− , and trace heavy metals (Pb, Cd, Cr, Ni, Zn, As, Hg, etc.), while
emerging water pollutants include steroids and hormones, endocrine disrupting
compounds (EDCs), pharmaceuticals & personal care products, artificial sweetener,
surfactants, etc. The existence of these cocktail of pollutants in the water resources
is more dangerous, which could lead to undesirable synergistic consequences.
Keywords Water Á Pollutants Á Trace metals Á Nitrate Á Pharmaceuticals & personal care products
1 Introduction
Water is the key constituent of all the existing lives. Being an essential component
the freshwater comprises 3% of the total water on our earth. Out of which only a
little amount (0.01%) of this fresh water is available to us for all purposes [46, 55].
A. Ahamad (&) Á S. Madhav Á A. K. Singh
School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi 110067, India
e-mail: evsarif786@gmail.com
A. Kumar
Department of Geology, Institute of Science, BHU, Varanasi 221005, India
P. Singh
PGDAV College, University of Delhi, New Delhi 110065, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020
D. Pooja et al. (eds.), Sensors in Water Pollutants Monitoring: Role of Material,
Advanced Functional Materials and Sensors,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-0671-0_3
21