By Neha MathurSep 26 2023Reviewed by Lily Ramsey, LLM In a recent article published in Environment International Journal, researchers performed the largest-ever spatiotemporal monitoring of chemicals/contaminants of emerging concern in London waterways during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, i.e., from 2019 to 2021.
Moreover, chemical pollution is the leading cause of death worldwide, representing more fatalities than war, murder, alcohol use, smoking, and fatal diseases, such as malaria and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome . London, the third largest city in Europe after Istanbul and Moscow, has ∼an 8.8 million residential population; thus, the potential for the Thames Basin to create CEC impacts is relatively larger than other UK regions. In addition, 57 overflow points discharge >39 million tonnes of raw sewage to the River Thames annually.
Overall, these advancements facilitated spatiotemporal scaling up of chemical monitoring programs to help prioritize CEC risks rapidly and sustainably. They collected 390 samples across 2019–2021 for target compound quantification, suspect screening, and prioritization of CEC risks. During quantification, the team derived measured environmental concentration values from LC-MS/MS analysis, for each CEC substance in a sample individually and as the average of three LC-MS/MS runs.
Results Targeted analysis and suspect screening identified 73 and 25 , of which 66 were quantifiable with MECs ranging between 3-3326 ng/L. In size groupings, the first group was dominated by sampling sites on tributary rivers downstream of WWTPs/CSO discharge points. The second grouping had no WWTP effluent or CSO activity; thus, their contamination likely originated from surface run-off, leachate, sewer misconnections, leakages, and direct dumping.