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• Published: 06 October 2022

Current wastewater treatment targets are insufficient to protect surface water quality

• Edward R. Jones   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-5388-7774 1 ,
• Marc F. P. Bierkens   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7411-6562 1 , 2 ,
• Niko Wanders 1 ,
• Edwin H. Sutanudjaja 1 ,
• Ludovicus P. H. van Beek 1 &
• Michelle T. H. van Vliet   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2597-8422 1  

Communications Earth & Environment volume  3 , Article number:  221 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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An Author Correction to this article was published on 08 March 2023

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The quality of global water resources is increasingly strained by socio-economic developments and climate change, threatening both human livelihoods and ecosystem health. With inadequately managed wastewater being a key driver of deterioration, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6.3 was established to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater discharged to the environment by 2030. Yet, the impact of achieving SDG6.3 on global ambient water quality is unknown. Addressing this knowledge gap, we develop a high-resolution surface water quality model for salinity as indicated by total dissolved solids, organic pollution as indicated by biological oxygen demand and pathogen pollution as indicated by fecal coliform. Our model includes a novel spatially-explicit approach to incorporate wastewater treatment practices, a key determinant of in-stream pollution. We show that achieving SDG6.3 reduces water pollution, but is still insufficient to improve ambient water quality to below key concentration thresholds in several world regions. Particularly in the developing world, reductions in pollutant loadings are locally effective but transmission of pollution from upstream areas still leads to water quality issues downstream. Our results highlight the need to go beyond the SDG-target for wastewater treatment in order to achieve the overarching goal of clean water for all.

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Introduction.

Compared to water availability (e.g. river discharge), few observations and large-scale modelling assessments exist for understanding global surface water quality 1 . Inadequate water quality for different sectoral purposes poses a variety of constraints across the water-food-energy-ecosystem nexus 2 : organic and pathogen pollution causes risks to human health 3 , increased salinity levels threaten agricultural productivity 4 and increased water temperatures can disrupt thermoelectric power plants that depend on surface water resources for cooling 5 , 6 . Moreover, all these pollutants can adversely affect the aquatic environment 7 . Improving our ability to accurately simulate in-stream pollutant concentrations is therefore key to improved understanding of the threats to global clean water resources and to devise management options that safeguard clean water for all 8 , 9 .

Sectoral activities artificially increase surface water pollutant concentrations by discharging polluted water back to the environment, particularly in regions with limited wastewater treatment 8 , 9 , 10 . The existence of and degree to which treatment practices reduce contaminant levels 11 and the proportion of (treated) wastewater relative to streamflow 12 are crucial determinants of the quality of receiving waters 11 , 13 . The importance of wastewater management practices is recognised in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 6.3 14 , which sets the target of halving the proportion of untreated wastewater released to the environment by 2030. With inadequately managed wastewater being the key driver of water pollution, this target represents the principal action for achieving the overarching goal of improved ambient water quality. Yet, no study has quantitatively assessed the effectiveness of achieving SDG6.3 on global ambient water quality.

Here we develop a high-resolution surface water quality model (henceforth DynQual ) that is essential for addressing this knowledge gap. DynQual simulates surface water temperature (Tw), salinity as indicated by total dissolved solids (TDS), organic pollution as indicated by biological oxygen demand (BOD) and pathogen pollution as indicated by faecal coliform (FC) concentrations (Fig.  S1 ). The model is unique in that it operates at an unprecedented spatial resolution of 5×5 arc-minutes (~10 km at the equator) and simulates water quality dynamically at daily temporal resolution globally. Water temperature (Tw) is simulated using a heat-advection approach 15 , 16 with thermoelectric powerplant effluents added as an additional point source of advected heat (Fig.  S2 ). Pollutant loadings of TDS, BOD and FC are calculated per sector following previous approaches 8 , 9 (Supplementary Notes  1 ). The high spatial resolution of our model allows for meaningful inclusion of a novel spatially explicit wastewater treatment dataset 11 , further disaggregated by treatment level (Supplementary Notes  4 and Fig.  S12 ), that is more representative of the real-world situation compared to existing approaches. Pollutant loadings are subsequently routed through the global stream network to calculate in-stream concentrations at the daily timestep. The model accounts for both the dilution capacity of the rivers and natural degradation processes (see Methods and Supplementary Notes  2 ).

Global surface water quality

Modelled water temperature (Tw) and in-stream concentrations of TDS, BOD and FC show overall good agreement with the observed data (Supplementary Notes  3 ). Global patterns in salinity, organic and pathogen pollution at the high spatial resolution (Fig.  1 ) are consistent with previous work 8 , 9 . While TDS concentrations are strongly influenced by geological factors, hotspots of high salinity pollution (>2100 mg l −1 TDS) correspond to heavily industrialised regions, such as north-eastern China and the contiguous United States, and to heavily irrigated regions such as northern India (Fig.  1a ; Figs.  S3 and S6 ). Exceedance of the salinity threshold in these regions tends to occur for more than half the year (>6 months) and occasionally year-round. More localised salinity pollution is also common in the tributaries to some major European rivers, before dissipating due to the increased dilution capacity of the main stream. Exceedance of the salinity threshold between 1–3 months per year occur in the Mediterranean and across large swathes of Africa. Exceedance of salinity thresholds are relatively low across South America, although some seasonal exceedances do occur in the more populated and industrialised regions.

Number of months per year exceeding key water quality thresholds for a total dissolved solids (TDS) (2100 mg l −1 ); b biological oxygen demand (BOD) (8 mg l −1 ); and c faecal coliform (FC) (1000 cfu 100 ml −1 ), averaged over 2006–2015. d The combined number of water quality thresholds (i.e. TDS, BOD and FC) exceeded in any month of the year, averaged over 2006-2015. Only streams with an average annual discharge >1 m s −1 are displayed.

Global patterns in the exceedance of BOD (8 mg l −1 ) and FC (1000 cfu 100 ml −1 ) thresholds follow similar patterns, attributed to the pollutant loadings originating from similar sectoral sources (Fig.  1b, c ; Figs.  S4 – S6 ). However, both the frequency and magnitude of FC threshold exceedances are larger than for TDS and BOD. Modelled FC concentrations can occasionally exceed 10,000 cfu 100 ml −1 , with the most polluted river stretches having FC concentrations surpassing 1 million cfu 100 ml −1 . Exceedances of BOD and FC thresholds are typically very low in sparsely populated locations, such as in northern high-latitudes and wet-tropical rainforests. In most other world regions, exceedance of organic and pathogen pollution thresholds are commonplace for at least some part of the year. Across East and Southern Asia, in-stream concentrations of BOD and FC that exceed quality thresholds are occurring both frequently and across many streams irrespective of river discharge (i.e. dilution capacity). Year-round exceedances of thresholds, especially for FC, are very high across China. Frequent exceedances are also widespread across Africa, such as in the tributaries of the Nile and the Niger, with typically more seasonal exceedances in the main channels of these rivers. BOD and FC thresholds are also exceeded across many parts of Western Europe, Japan and the Eastern Seaboard of the USA, despite wastewater treatment rates already being high. However, exceedances in these regions tend to be more seasonal and do not typically occur in rivers with large year-round discharges. Statistics aggregated by geographical region are displayed in Fig.  S7 .

Figure  1d displays the incidences of threshold exceedance in any month of the year aggregated across multiple water quality constituents. Thus, a value of 2 denotes that 2 out of 3 of the water quality constituent thresholds are jointly exceeded in at least 1 month, with monthly concentrations averaged over 2006–2015. In line with the analysis of individual water quality constituents, no exceedances in any of the water quality thresholds considered are found for large portions of the high-latitude and wet-tropical regions. Conversely, in most other populated regions, one or more water quality thresholds are exceeded in at least 1 month per year. Simultaneous exceedances of all three water quality constituents (i.e. TDS, BOD, FC) mostly occur where large seasonal variations in river discharge (e.g. Africa, India) exist. High TDS loadings can be mostly attributed to either large scale irrigation systems (e.g. North India) or manufacturing activities (e.g. East China). Exceedances in BOD and FC concentrations are commonplace both where wastewater treatment rates are low (e.g. East Asia and Pacific, Southern Asia) and high (e.g. Western Europe, Northern America). This demonstrates the importance of dilution (i.e. river discharge) in determining in-stream concentrations. Incidences where only one water quality constituent shows exceeded concentrations are mostly attributed to FC, and mostly during low-flow seasons.

Halving the proportion of untreated wastewater (SDG6.3)

Expansions in wastewater treatment to achieve SDG6.3 are designated at the country-level and delineated to gridcells based upon where pollutant loadings are highest (Supplementary Notes  5 and Figs.  S14 – 15 ). Figure  2a displays the top 30 countries with the largest required expansions in wastewater treatment. Together, these 30 countries account for ~87% of the total required expansions to achieve SDG6.3. The largest expansions required before 2030 are in China (40 billion m 3 yr −1 ), the USA (16 billion m 3 yr −1 ) and India (15 billion m 3 yr −1 ), with these three countries alone accounting for ~45% of the required expansions. Expansions are required across many regions in the populated areas of North America and Europe, particularly where (a proportion of) the collected wastewater is still released to the environment without treatment. Conversely, in world regions with little or no wastewater treatment in 2015, the expansions required to achieve SDG6.3 are fulfilled by establishing wastewater treatment in only a few, densely populated locations. While high percentage reductions in pollutant loadings are achieved in these specific locations, achieving SDG6.3 in these regions has a more limited impact on pollutant loadings across geographical space (Fig.  S16 ).

a Expansions in wastewater treatment capacity (10 9 m 3 yr −1 ) required by 2030 to achieve SDG6.3 for the top 30 countries; and the associated absolute and percentage reductions in b biological oxygen demand (BOD) and c faecal coliform (FC) pollutant loadings per sector aggregated per geographical region.

As we assume that secondary wastewater treatment practices do not influence TDS loadings 9 , the expansions in wastewater treatment influence BOD and FC loadings and concentrations only. This assumption also means that reductions in gridded pollutant loadings are capped at 85% and 97.5%, which are the assumed pollutant removal efficiencies for secondary wastewater treatment for BOD and FC, respectively (Table  S4 ). Figure  2b and Fig.  2c display the region-aggregated reductions in BOD and FC pollutant loadings relative to loadings without expansions in wastewater treatment. Strong (absolute) reductions are achieved in the East Asia and Pacific and Southern Asia regions. Reductions in total BOD loadings range from 16% to 32% across the different regions; and reductions in total FC loadings from 17% to 43%. While increases in wastewater treatment capacities reduce point source pollution locally, the benefits to surface water quality also propagate downstream. The average annual reductions in BOD and FC concentrations when achieving SDG6.3 are displayed in Fig.  3a, b , respectively (see Figs.  S17 and S18 for zoom-in panels).

Average annual percentage reductions in a organic pollution as indicated by biological oxygen demand (BOD) concentrations and b pathogen pollution as indicated by faecal coliform (FC) concentrations, assuming no expansions in wastewater treatment vs. achieving SDG6.3. Percentage reductions displayed in a and b are averaged over multiple general circulation models (GCMs) for the time period 2021–2030 and are only displayed for streams with an average annual discharge >10 m s −1 . More detailed maps displaying percentage reductions in BOD and FC concentrations in key world regions are available Figs.  S17 and S18 , respectively. c In-stream BOD (left) and FC (right) concentrations under historical, no expansion and SDG6.3 conditions. Additional time-series plots across more world regions are displayed in Fig.  S19 .

While Fig.  3a, b are very similar, variations between BOD and FC reductions occur due to: (1) the different removal efficiencies associated with secondary wastewater treatment; (2) the differences in proportion of loadings originating from sectors influenced by wastewater treatment; and (3) interplay with the decay processes. Reductions in BOD and FC concentrations are particularly large in Northern India, Eastern China and the Eastern Seaboard of the USA, corresponding to the countries requiring the largest volumetric expansions in wastewater treatment (Fig.  2a ). SDG6.3 expansions led to very high localised reductions in BOD and FC concentrations, which also translate into substantial improvements in the river water quality of the regions’ major rivers e.g. Mississippi (US), Ganges (India) and Yellow (China). Improvements in water quality associated with SDG6.3 can be seen in most streams across Europe, with reductions of ~40% for BOD and ~50% for FC concentrations are achieved in the major rivers. The fact that such substantial reductions are achieved in both the tributaries and main channels of European river networks is attributed to the fact that the required increases in wastewater treatment capacities for SDG6.3 are widespread in space, following the extensive treatment capacity currently in place.

Conversely, in regions where SDG6.3 can be achieved by expanding wastewater treatment capacities at a small number of locations—particularly Africa—reductions in BOD and FC concentrations are less ubiquitous. Here, the concentrations in a greater proportion of stream segments are unaffected by achieving SDG6.3. Nevertheless, the benefit of achieving SDG6.3 on BOD and FC concentrations can still be seen in both localised stream segments (where expansions are occurring) and also for major rivers, such as the lower Nile and parts of the Niger. In countries with highly concentrated populations, such as Australia, SDG6.3 expansions in wastewater treatment are also confined to a small number of locations. Thus, very high localised reductions in BOD and FC concentrations are achieved, but only in the major urban settlements.

Time-series of in-stream concentrations at selected locations (Fig.  3c and Fig.  S19 ) show that SDG6.3 can drastically reduce in-stream concentrations and reduce the frequency and magnitude of water quality threshold exceedance. For example, BOD concentrations in the Citarum River, Indonesia can be reduced to below the 8 mg l −1 threshold in almost all months of the year under SDG6.3, whereas year-round exceedance is commonplace under current wastewater treatment levels. Similarly, without expansions in wastewater treatment, FC concentrations in the Hudson River, USA begin to frequently exceed the 1000 cfu 100 ml −1 threshold (typically 4–6 months per year), whereas these exceedances are entirely prevented under SDG6.3. Such exceedances of water quality thresholds are important as they may result in the surface water being unsuitable for sectoral uses, or threaten environmental health.

The percentage reductions in BOD (Fig.  3a and Fig.  S17 ) and FC (Fig.  3b and Fig.  S18 ) also translate into changes in the frequency and magnitude of water quality threshold exceedances. We demonstrate these changes with respect to the percentage of surface water abstractions that exceed quality thresholds under historical, no expansion and SDG6.3 conditions (Fig.  4 and Figs.  S20 – S21 ). With no reductions in TDS loadings assumed with secondary wastewater treatment, no variation in TDS exceedances under the two scenarios are found. Furthermore, only small changes are found in these scenarios relative to the historical conditions.

Percentage of surface water abstractions exceeding critical water quality thresholds for salinity pollution as indicated by total dissolved solids (TDS) concentrations (2100 mg l −1 ), organic pollution as indicated by biological oxygen demand (BOD) concentrations (8 mg l −1 ) and pathogen pollution as indicated by faecal coliform (FC) concentrations (1000 cfu 100 ml −1 ) under historical and near-future (no expansions and SDG6.3) conditions. Water quality threshold exceedance and surface water abstractions are assessed at monthly temporal resolution, and subsequently aggregated per geographic region across all months. Results are averaged across multiple general circulation models (GCMs) using 2005–2014 as the historical and 2021–2030 as the future time period.

In terms of BOD and FC threshold exceedance, reductions in the proportion of surface water extractions exceeding quality thresholds are highest in developed regions of Northern America, Western Europe and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In these regions, expansions in wastewater treatment for SDG6.3 are widespread in space, achieved through a combination of expanding wastewater treatment in gridcells where wastewater treatment is already present (‘collected, untreated’, Fig.  S13 ) and establishing wastewater treatment facilities in new locations. Furthermore, in-stream concentrations of BOD and FC are typically lower in these regions attributed to the wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure that is already established. Thus, SDG6.3 expansions in wastewater treatment are more frequently sufficient for achieving reductions beneath quality thresholds. Conversely, in world regions with more limited existing wastewater treatment (e.g. Sub-Saharan Africa), achieving SDG6.3 leads to relatively fewer changes in threshold exceedances. While wastewater treatment expansions in these regions causes substantial reductions in localised pollutant loadings, these are often insufficient to reduce in-stream concentrations to levels beneath quality thresholds. This primarily occurs due to the propagation of pollution originating in upstream areas where expansions in wastewater treatment are not allocated.

Conclusions

Our findings show that substantial reductions in organic and pathogen pollution, as indicated by BOD and FC concentrations in surface waters, are achieved under SDG6.3. The achieved water quality improvements, to differing extents across regions, reduce the frequency and magnitude of water quality threshold exceedances for sectoral uses and aquatic ecosystem health (Fig.  4 and Fig.  S20 ). Reductions in threshold exceedances are typically largest where wastewater treatment rates are already high, such as Northern America and Western Europe. Conversely, in world regions with limited existing wastewater treatment, the impact of achieving SDG6.3 on threshold exceedance is more modest. This occurs due to SDG6.3 being met by expanding wastewater treatment in a relatively limited number of locations. Furthermore, volumes of untreated wastewater (and the associated pollutant loadings) can still be very large under SDG6.3—in a country without any existing wastewater treatment facilities, 50% of the total produced wastewater is still released to the environment untreated. With propagation of pollution from upstream areas still resulting in widespread exceedances of key water quality thresholds, the suitability of SDG6.3 as a global sustainability target for improving ambient water quality must be considered. Based on our study, it can be concluded that SDG6.3 can substantially improves ambient water quality worldwide, but that in many world regions improvements are still insufficient to meet water quality requirements for human use and aquatic ecosystem health.

As we enter the “Decade of Action (2021–2030)” for achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda, now is the time to renew global efforts to go above and beyond the wastewater treatment target stipulated by SDG6.3. While achieving the required expansions in wastewater treatment will poses serious economic challenges, extracting the economic value inherent within wastewater flows (e.g. water, nutrients and energy recovery) can provide funding opportunities compatible with a circular economy. Yet, our results also demonstrate that in addition to expanding and improving our ‘hard-infrastructure’ (i.e. sewer networks and wastewater treatment facilities), a strong focus on reducing pollutant emissions at source will also be required to achieve the overarching goal of SDG6— clean water and sanitation for all .

Materials and methods

Wastewater treatment and pollutant loadings.

Pollutant loadings are considered from six distinct sources, namely from the domestic, manufacturing, irrigation, livestock and thermoelectric power sectors, and from urban surface runoff (Fig.  S1 ). Pollutant loadings of water temperature (Tw), total dissolved solids (TDS), biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) and faecal coliform (FC) are calculated at a gridcell resolution of 5 × 5 arc-minutes (~10 km at the equator) with a monthly timestep. Socio-economic and hydroclimatic data are used as basis from 1980–2015 (historical), with data for 2016–2030 based on future projections associated with RCP 7.0 and SSP3 17 . This combination represents an intermediate-high emissions and development scenario (CMIP6), characterised by regional rivalry 18 . Loadings from the domestic and livestock sectors are estimated by multiplying the gridded population 19 with a pollutant-specific per capita excretion rate 8 , 9 . Conversely, loadings from the manufacturing and irrigation sectors, and from urban surface runoff, are estimated by multiplying a return flow volume, simulated with the global hydrology and water resources model PCR-GLOBWB2 20 , with a pollutant-specific mean effluent concentration 8 , 9 . Heat dumps from the power sector are estimated by multiplying the associated return flows with an estimated difference in water temperature between the return flows and the receiving waters 6 , 9 . More information on the datasets used and methodology for calculating pollutant loadings per sector are presented in Supplementary Notes  1 (Figs.  S2 – S6 ).

Sector-specific pollutant loadings can be abated based upon their transmission paths to receiving waters (Fig.  S1  and Supplementary Notes 4 ). Pollutant loadings from the domestic and manufacturing sectors, and from urban surface runoff, can be heavily influenced by wastewater management plants where wastewater collection (e.g. in sewers) and subsequent treatment (e.g. in sewage treatment works) practices are occurring (Fig.  S11 ). The specific path via which municipal wastewater is disposed, including the treatment level (i.e. removal efficiency) of collected wastewater, is therefore key to determining the resultant pollutant loadings. Previous global water quality studies have used country-level data to represent this process 8 , 9 . Here, we use a newly developed global wastewater collection and treatment dataset 11 , further disaggregated by treatment level (primary, secondary, tertiary+), to delineate these wastewater pathways at 5 arc-minutes (Figs.  S12 – S13 ). This is a substantially higher spatial resolution than previously captured. For detailed information on the spatially explicit wastewater dataset, we refer to the original publication 11 .

Surface water quality modelling (DynQual)

A new surface water quality model, named DynQual , has been developed in this study to simulate surface water temperature (Tw), water salinity as indicated by total dissolved solids (TDS), organic pollution as indicated by biological oxygen demand (BOD) and pathogen pollution as indicated by faecal coliform (FC) concentrations at a spatial resolution of 5 × 5 arc-minutes and daily resolution globally. These water quality constituents are selected because they are key in constraining different sector water uses and ecosystem health 21 , 22 . DynQual has been developed in a flexible way to allow for the addition of more water quality constituents, which could include nutrients, dissolved oxygen and emerging contaminants.

DynQual builds on recent water quality model developments 8 , 9 , 10 , 23 and the water temperature modelling framework DynWat 15 , 16 . DynWat solves the surface water energy balance at the daily timestep, while also accounting for surface water abstractions, reservoirs, riverine flooding and the formation of ice, giving Tw at a spatial resolution of 5 × 5 arc-minutes 16 . We further include advected flow from heat effluents of thermoelectric powerplants, following previous work 9 , 24 . Daily surface water concentrations of TDS [mg l −1 ], BOD [mg l −1 ] and FC [cfu 100 ml −1 ] at 5 × 5 arc-minutes, are simulated by using a mass balance approach, combining the sectoral pollutant loadings routed over the stream network with the dilution capacity of the receiving stream. We assume instantaneous and full mixing of all pollutant loadings in each gridcell. TDS is simulated using conservative substances approach, whereas BOD and FC are simulated using a non-conservative substances approach with first-order decay during downstream water transport 8 , 9 , 25 . The decay coefficient for FC is a function of water temperature, solar radiation and the settling rate of bacteria (sedimentation) 8 , 25 , whereas the decay coefficient for BOD is water-temperature dependent only 9 , 10 . Hydrology (surface runoff, interflow, baseflow, channel storage) and surface water abstractions are simulated by the global hydrology and water resources model PCR-GLOBWB 2, for which we refer to the original publication 20 . More information on the surface water quality modelling approach is presented in Supplementary Notes  2 .

In this study, DynQual is run for a historical time period of 1980–2015 using W5E5 forcing data 26 , 27 (Supplementary Notes  1 – 2 ). DynQual is uncalibrated to facilitate application in ungauged basins (e.g. parts of Africa with limited water quality monitoring availability) without loss of performance 16 . In-stream concentrations for the historical time period are validated against in-situ surface water quality monitoring data from the Global Environment Monitoring System (GEMS) 28 (Table  S1 ). Overall, modelled Tw and in-stream concentrations of TDS, BOD and FC show good agreement with the observed data, as indicated by calculated Kling Gupta Efficiency coefficients. In accordance with the focus of our study—the exceedance of key water quality thresholds under past and near-future conditions—we also present our validation results with respect to pollutant classes 8 . More information on the validation of the water quality model from 1980–2015 is presented in the Supplementary Notes  3 (Figs.  S8 – S10 ).

Future projections of water quantity, surface water temperature and pollutant (i.e. TDS, BOD and FC) concentrations are made up to 2030, including the impact of climate change following the representative concentration pathway RCP 7.0 17 . We use bias-corrected CMIP6 forcing data from 5 GCMs 17 for the time period 2006–2030. Future pollutant loadings are simulated following the shared socio-economic pathway SSP3 17 , 19 under two different assumptions considering (1) no expansion in wastewater treatment (‘ no expansion ’); and (2) expansions to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater globally by 2030 ( ‘SDG6.3’ ). We compare our water quality simulations under these two assumptions to evaluate the relative impact of halving the proportion of untreated wastewater on global surface water quality. Surface water quality simulations are linked to concentration thresholds relevant for sectoral water use (Table  S2 ) 8 to determine the frequency and magnitude of their exceedance. This allows for evaluation of the constraints posed to sectoral water users from a water quality perspective. Future work should also assess pollution status from an ecological perspective, whereby the assimilative capacity of the receiving waters (aside from just the dilution component) is a key additional consideration.

SDG6.3 sets the target of halving the proportion of untreated wastewater that is released to the environment and improve ambient water quality by 2030 14 . We only consider wastewater undergoing secondary or higher treatment practices in 2015 as adequately treated for SDG6.3, as a substantial proportion of pollutant loadings are abated only at these treatment levels. We calculate the volumetric expansion required in domestic and manufacturing sectors to achieve SDG6.3 at the country level using trend analysis, and subsequently delineate these expansions hierarchically to gridcells with the highest pollutant loadings in 2015. We focus our expansions on gridcells with high pollutant loadings as collection and treatment is assumed to be both more desirable and economically feasible (and hence more likely) where the strongest reductions in pollutant loadings are achieved. Expansions in wastewater treatment are assumed to be at the secondary level. An overarching assumption is that SDG6.3 is met by all countries by 2030. Given current progress towards this target, particularly against the backdrop of financial challenges of COVID-19 29 , we acknowledge the likelihood of SDG6.3 achievement to be low. Nevertheless, this assumption allows for quantitative assessment of the suitability of SDG6.3 for improving ambient water quality. Detailed information and results regarding the spatial expansions in wastewater treatment associated with achieving SDG6.3 is presented in Supplementary Notes  5 (Figs.  S14 – S15 ).

Data availability

Data used in this study for water quality simulations is primarily available open-access and is accessible from the original sources: climate forcing 17 , population 30 , livestock numbers 31 , powerplants 32 and wastewater collection and treatment 11 , 33 . Global water quality output data from 1980 to 2015 at 10 km resolution is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20486277 , while simulated water quality under the two wastewater treatment scenarios for all 5 GCMs is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.20486310 . Further information is available in the  Supplementary Information or upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The global hydrological model PCR-GLOBWB2 20 , which is used for hydrological simulations, is available at: https://github.com/UU-Hydro/PCR-GLOBWB_model/ . The code of the water quality model is available upon request to the corresponding author.

Change history

08 march 2023.

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00738-0

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Global Environment Monitoring System for providing observed water quality data for our model validation. MTHvV was financially supported by a VIDI grant (Project No. VI.Vidi.193.019) of the Netherlands Scientific Organisation (NWO). NW acknowledges funding from NWO 016.Veni.181.049. We acknowledge the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for the grant that enabled us to use the national supercomputer Snellius.

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The research was designed by E.R.J., M.F.P.B. and M.T.H.v.V. The water quality model was developed by E.R.J., with assistance from N.W. and E.H.S. Data analysis and the interpretation of results was led by E.R.J., with guidance and feedback from M.F.P.B., N.W., E.H.S., L.P.H.v.B. and M.T.H.v.V. The manuscript was written by E.R.J. and was approved by all authors.

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Jones, E.R., Bierkens, M.F.P., Wanders, N. et al. Current wastewater treatment targets are insufficient to protect surface water quality. Commun Earth Environ 3 , 221 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-022-00554-y

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EDITORIAL article

Editorial: recent trends in integrated wastewater treatment for sustainable development.

• 1 Waste Re-processing Division, CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur, India
• 2 School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaian, China
• 3 Waste and Effluent Treatment Laboratory, Institute of Technology and Research (ITP), Tiradentes University, Aracaju, Brazil
• 4 Graduate Program in Process Engineering, Tiradentes University, Aracaju, Brazil

Editorial on the Research Topic Recent Trends in Integrated Wastewater Treatment for Sustainable Development

Water, one of the utmost valuable natural resources for life on Earth, is critical to our society's economic development and success (agriculture, industry, and energy production). Nothing is more important to life on Earth than water. Although water is abundant on Earth, covering around 70% of the surface area, only 1% of that resource is available for human consumption. Water usage is significantly increasing in many parts of the world as a result of rising population, increasing economic activities, widespread industrialization, and urbanization, which are all raising living standards and boosting food demand. Thus, the problem of freshwater scarcity and contamination of natural water resources has become a menace to the developing globe that requires rapid response ( Yaashikaa et al., 2022 ). Worldwide the freshwater use is projected to have increased twice as quickly as the human population. In 2050, consumption is predicted to be tremendously higher than it is today, with over 40% of the world's population facing water scarcity issues. These factors compel us to consider non-conventional water sources as a means of meeting the growing need for fresh water. Wastewater and waste treatment are feasible options for dealing with freshwater scarcity. Various industries, municipalities, agricultural lands, commercial regions, and urban areas all emit large amounts of highly contaminated wastewater ( Nookwam et al., 2022 ). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), providing good quality water for sustainable development of the society, wastewater treatment is essential before its discharge into surface water systems to protect the environment and public health.

According to Lamastra et al. (2016) , more than 700 different metabolites and emerging pollutants are discharged into the environment without treatment. This fact is further worse by the lack of knowledge about the transportation, destination, and toxic potential of these toxic contaminants when they entered into the ecosystem, besides hampering the development of environmental policies controlled by regulatory agencies that promote the sustainable treatment and management of pollutants in the open environment ( Taheran et al., 2018 ). However, the persistent increase of these in the contaminated site still present due to the consumerist profile of the current society ( Vasilachi et al., 2021 ). In this context, biocatalysis plays a vital role in the growth of many industries, such as food, energy, and fine chemistry, since this green alternative allows replacing traditional processes through the use of microorganisms and their enzymes in catalytic reactions that can be applied in the biodegradation of various organic and emerging contaminants present in various agro-industrial and industrial effluents, reducing environmental concerns and improving the water quality after the use of microbiotecnologies.

Physicochemical approaches such as membrane filtration, ion exchange, advanced oxidation processes, and coagulation/flocculation, despite their efficacy, are not preferred due to sensitivity to variable water input, excessive chemical consumption, high operational costs, and the generation of a large amount of sludge as well as secondary pollutants. Although traditional wastewater treatment technologies are widely used, they fail to eradicate numerous complex contaminants. These chemicals eventually make their way into wastewater, posing a threat to water quality ( Fito and Van Hulle, 2021 ; Daud et al., 2022 ). Even after secondary treatment, wastewater is expected to produce substantial volumes of new and complex contaminants that are always more difficult to deal with. Adequate wastewater treatment is rarely achieved by the use of a single treatment technique.

There is an urgent need to develop a cost-effective, efficient, and comprehensive technologies or improve the existing methods through some interventions for adequate treatment and eliminating pollutants from wastewater to achieve environmental sustainability ( Varjani et al., 2020 ; Shah et al., 2022 ). In the recent past, innovative integrated treatment technologies by coupling two or more biological, physical, and chemical processes to remediate or clean up many environmental contaminants from wastewater have been gained worldwide attention ( Figure 1 ). Overall, this Research Topic (RT) provided an appropriate platform for discussing current trends, developments, and applications of integrated treatment technologies in the degradation and detoxification of wastewater or pollutants, including new emerging contaminants, industrial discharges, and municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Figure 1 . Various integrated environmental technology used for wastewater treatment and management.

This RT consists of three research articles and four reviews contributed by leading experts from around the globe. The first research article, which was contributed by Verdel et al. and the team, has focused on the development of a biobased approach for the remediation of white water utilizing an indigenous bacteria isolate. Authors developed a bacterial consortium comprises Aeromonas sp. RES19-BTP, Cellulosimicrobium sp. AKD4- BF, Sphingomonas sp. BLA14-CF, and Xanthomonadales sp. CST37-CF for degradation of organic additives. The consortium immobilized on carriers showed a reduction of COD up to 88% in the white-water in a pilot-scale 33-liter tubular reactor filled with white water even after 21 days. Marathe et al. investigated the phytotreatment efficiency of low-cost organic raw materials for the remediation of saline effluent generated by tannery, textile, and pulp-paper industries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), wastewater having high total dissolved solids (TDS; 2,000 mg/L) is laid under severe restriction use for irrigation due to high salt accumulation in crop roots resulting in a total loss in crop yield. Authors used saline wastewater had high TDS (6,143.33 mg/L) for its treatment using lysimeters aided with organic filter bedding raw material as planted with potential plant, Eucalyptus camaldulensis . E. camaldulensis plant species displayed high efficiency to treat wastewater simultaneous accumulation of the high amount of sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and produce higher biomass, and chlorophyll content without showing any negative impact on the growth as a function of wastewater. The high TDS management efficiency of coconut and rice husk as bedding material in a combination with forestry plant species was highest compared to other tested organic raw materials. The authors concluded that organic waste based amendments are an eco-sustainable option for managing saline wastewater.

Mishra et al. reviewed bacterial-assisted degradation of toxic dyes used in textile, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals industries and other co-contaminants that pose a significant threat to humans and the ecosystem. Thus, public demands for decontaminated effluent to the receiving environment have made degradation, decolorization, and detoxification of contaminated wastewater discharges from industries a top priority. The authors highlight the decolorization and biodegradation mechanisms of various azo dyes by several bacterial enzymes. In addition, molecular docking of bacterial enzymes with dye molecules gives a new insight at the molecular level to explore the detailed mechanism of bacterial enzymes in dye degradation. The authors also discussed the molecular and physiological capabilities of isolates, which were beneficial for bioremediation processes.

Mathew et al. summarized the integrated algae and bacterial approaches for the degradation of contaminated sewage water. Due to the presence of an overwhelming blend of numerous refractory chemicals, the conventional approaches are unsuitable neither as on-site nor as a centralized treatment, and the urgent need of specific treatments is required. The integrated use of microbes for biodegradation is convenient because it is versatile, has dynamic metabolisms. The direct application of algae also helps to remove toxic heavy metals like aluminum, nickel, copper, etc. with simultaneous reduction of nutrients from the wastewater. Their growth also creates the potential for biofuels and bioproducts from their biomass. The augmentation of potent bacterial islates further enhanced the remediation efficacy of the wastewater. This happens as the inorganic nutrients was assimilated into the algal biomass whereas bacteria utilized organic nutrients. Furthermore, the mutualistic exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen between bacterial and algae species helps intensify the photosynthetic activity of algae while oxidation-reduction by bacteria lead to the removal of nutrients from wastewater.

In general, one of the key motives of research organizations around the world is to develop technological improvements directed at the production chain of sustainable processes. Beyond the current topic's scientific, technological, and environmental importance, it is critical to develop integrated treatment methods for long-term development, using alternate reuse techniques concurrently to treat these residues and other resistant harmful chemicals. The latest recent innovations in integrated wastewater treatment methods provide an option to deal with organic and developing pollutants and increase process efficiency, making biotech and associated businesses more appealing because they use higher added value renewable inputs. At the same time, it enables creative methods to treat these residues and other resistant aromatic compounds via biological treatment systems, with the possibility of linking to new processes, and the practicality of deployment in biorefineries and meet the circular bioeconomy.

In summary, the new knowledge provided by the articles in this RT will expand our understanding of the current development in wastewater treatment by emerging integrated approaches and enable us to reach eco-sustainable treatment technology to obtain safe wastewater.

Author Contributions

VK drafted this editorial, which all authors reviewed and commented on, and eventually approved the final version of the manuscript for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the Frontiers Editorial Office for their assistance in completing this RT. We are also grateful to all authors for their outstanding contributions to this RT with readers and the scientific community. We would like to thank the reviewers for assuring the quality of the papers in this RT.

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Keywords: phytotreatment, refractory contaminants, tertiary treatment, bioaugmentation, pulp-paper industry

Citation: Kumar V, Bilal M and Ferreira LFR (2022) Editorial: Recent Trends in Integrated Wastewater Treatment for Sustainable Development. Front. Microbiol. 13:846503. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.846503

Received: 31 December 2021; Accepted: 11 March 2022; Published: 31 March 2022.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2022 Kumar, Bilal and Ferreira. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Vineet Kumar, drvineet.micro@gmail.com

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

A critical review of conventional and emerging wastewater treatment technologies

• Original Article
• Published: 25 March 2023
• Volume 9 , article number  58 , ( 2023 )

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• Ravindra Sangamnere 1 ,
• Tavishi Misra 1 ,
• Hemant Bherwani 1 , 2 ,
• Atya Kapley 1 , 2 &
• Rakesh Kumar 2 , 3  

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Water stress is a major concern in today’s world as many cities worldwide face fast depleting potable water supply. The prevailing water emergency warrants a conscious effort to reuse mitigated wastewater such that the use of residual natural reserves is limited to drinking purposes only. To accomplish adequate wastewater remediation, the greatest challenge, apart from policy and implementation fronts, lies in maximizing the overall efficiency of wastewater treatment (WWT) systems. In light of this, the current review makes a unique effort to help navigate the challenge by summarizing the present scenario of WWT technologies, focusing on the progress so far and the prospects in the next 30 years or so. The study comprehensively reviews various wastewater technologies and aims to help countries, like India, deal with the obstacles encountered while selecting and engineering suitable systems. It compares them based on their advantages and disadvantages, including budget allocation and timeframe for installing and commission of the treatment plants. Depending upon the wastewater characteristics and the expected end-use of treated wastewater, a comprehensive survey of prevalent aerobic, anaerobic, and biological treatment techniques has been done. Emerging WWT technologies, such as advanced oxidation processes, membrane filtration techniques, microbial electrolysis cell technologies, and in situ methods, which are currently in the development and deployment stages, have also been discussed. The study outlines the scope, limitations, and advancements of existing and prospective wastewater remediation approaches and suggests their decentralized implementation at the community scale as stop-gap solutions to poor wastewater management.

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Wastewater Treatment and Reuse: a Review of its Applications and Health Implications

Drinking water contamination and treatment techniques.

Advantages and disadvantages of techniques used for wastewater treatment

Availability of data and material.

 The datasets analysed during the current study are available in  https://nmcg.nic.in/writereaddata/fileupload/16_31_003_EQP_S&R_02.pdf .

Abbreviations

Advanced oxidation processes

Activated sludge process

Biological oxygen demand

Chemical oxygen demand

Constructed wetland

Dissolved organic carbon

Expanded granular sludge bed reactor

Fluidized bed bioreactor

Freeze concentration

Fixed-film bioreactor

Hydraulic retention time

Moving bed bioreactor

Membrane bioreactor

Microbial electrolysis cell

Rotating biological contactor

Sequencing batch reactor

Total dissolved solids

Trickling filter

Total suspended solids

Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket

Waste stabilization pond

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Sangamnere, R., Misra, T., Bherwani, H. et al. A critical review of conventional and emerging wastewater treatment technologies. Sustain. Water Resour. Manag. 9 , 58 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40899-023-00829-y

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Antibody-drug Conjugates Shift the Cancer Treatment Landscape: Novotech Whitepaper Examines Latest Clinical Trial Data

Published: Jun 21, 2024

BOSTON, June 21, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Novotech, the global full-service clinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) that partners with biotech companies to accelerate the development of advanced and novel therapeutics at every phase, has today released a key research whitepaper entitled Antibody-drug conjugates - Global Clinical Trial Landscape .

Novotech's whitepaper examines how the antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), a revolutionary treatment approach, is reshaping cancer treatment. ADCs combine the precision of monoclonal antibodies with potent cytotoxic payloads, promising targeted drug delivery with minimal side effects.

The report explores the evolution of ADCs, detailing key milestones, technological advancements, clinical successes, and highlights the significant rise in ADC research and development, with over 150 compounds in clinical trials and 15 FDA approved drugs. It also examines the promising commercial landscape, showcasing the surge in investments and major pharmaceutical companies' strategic interests in ADCs.

The Novotech research analyst team provides these expert reports every month, completely free of charge. These reports offer up-to-date insights into global clinical trial activity, revealing which regions experience the highest trial volumes and the unique factors behind these trends. They tackle the potential and real hurdles faced by biotech firms in specific therapeutic areas and discuss future paths in treatments and investment trends.

Examining the clinical trial activity, the report found that from 2019 to 2023, the ADC trial landscape experienced a substantial expansion, with close to 1,000 trials initiated worldwide. Asia-Pacific emerged as a frontrunner, boasting a significant Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 42.7%, underscoring its pivotal role in advancing research and development in this space. North America maintained steady growth at 25.2% CAGR, and Europe saw a moderate rise with 13.6%. The United States and China led trial efforts, with contributions from other countries such as Spain, Australia, and South Korea.

The report also notes a 30% increase in ADC-related publications over the last three years, signaling growing commercial interest in translating academic breakthroughs into tangible clinical applications. The United States leads in both publications and patents, followed by China, Japan, and the United Kingdom. Breast cancer and lymphoma dominated ADC research, with growth observed in breast cancer and myeloma studies.

Key takeaways from the report include:

• Phase II trials dominated the global ADC clinical trial landscape, representing over 50% of all trials, followed by Phase I and III with 27% and 22%. APAC leads in conducting trials across all phases, with its most significant contribution in Phase II.
• Oncology emerged as the primary therapeutic focus, with over 97% (600) of ADC trials, with Asia-Pacific leading in trial numbers at 40%, North America at 31%, Europe and ROW contributing 18% and 11% respectively.
• A diverse landscape of targeted antigens and cytotoxic payloads, with tubulin inhibitors emerging as the predominant choice. The approval of trastuzumab deruxtecan (Enhertu) in 2019 highlighted a shift towards a broader range of ADC payloads, including topoisomerase I inhibitors and STING agonists.
• With more than 340 companies actively engaged in ADC development, including industry giants like F. Hoffmann-La Roche and AbbVie, the landscape is witnessing a surge in interest and investment.
• Over 200 ADCs are currently in development by companies including Merck, Seagen, Daiichi Sankyo, AbbVie, ADC Therapeutics, Byondis, CytomX, and ImmunoGen, signaling a shift towards targeted cancer therapy, especially for prevalent cancers like breast and lung cancer.

This comprehensive resource is designed as a guide for healthcare professionals, researchers, and organizations to accurately navigate the ADC clinical trial landscape.

Download the report here

About Novotech Novotech-CRO.com

Founded in 1997, Novotech is a global full-service clinical Contract Research Organization (CRO) focused on partnering with biotech companies to accelerate the development of advanced and novel therapeutics at every phase.

Recognized for its industry-leading contributions, Novotech has received numerous prestigious awards, including the CRO Leadership Award 2023, the Asia Pacific Cell & Gene Therapy Clinical Trials Excellence 2023, the Asia-Pacific Contract Research Organization Company of the Year Award since 2006.

The Company offers a comprehensive suite of services including laboratories, Phase I facilities, drug development consulting, regulatory expertise, and has experience with over 5,000 clinical projects, including Phase I to Phase IV clinical trials and bioequivalence studies. With a presence in 34 office locations and a dedicated team of 3,000+ professionals worldwide, Novotech is a trusted end-to-end strategic partner of choice.

For more information or to speak to an expert team member visit  https://bit.ly/3RDfE4W

An infographic accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/ab1afd7f-461a-4e83-baf7-27440c30e1a5

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Editorial: Recent Trends in Integrated Wastewater Treatment for Sustainable Development

Vineet kumar.

1 Waste Re-processing Division, CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur, India

Muhammad Bilal

2 School of Life Science and Food Engineering, Huaiyin Institute of Technology, Huaian, China

Luiz Fernando Romanholo Ferreira

3 Waste and Effluent Treatment Laboratory, Institute of Technology and Research (ITP), Tiradentes University, Aracaju, Brazil

4 Graduate Program in Process Engineering, Tiradentes University, Aracaju, Brazil

Water, one of the utmost valuable natural resources for life on Earth, is critical to our society's economic development and success (agriculture, industry, and energy production). Nothing is more important to life on Earth than water. Although water is abundant on Earth, covering around 70% of the surface area, only 1% of that resource is available for human consumption. Water usage is significantly increasing in many parts of the world as a result of rising population, increasing economic activities, widespread industrialization, and urbanization, which are all raising living standards and boosting food demand. Thus, the problem of freshwater scarcity and contamination of natural water resources has become a menace to the developing globe that requires rapid response (Yaashikaa et al., 2022 ). Worldwide the freshwater use is projected to have increased twice as quickly as the human population. In 2050, consumption is predicted to be tremendously higher than it is today, with over 40% of the world's population facing water scarcity issues. These factors compel us to consider non-conventional water sources as a means of meeting the growing need for fresh water. Wastewater and waste treatment are feasible options for dealing with freshwater scarcity. Various industries, municipalities, agricultural lands, commercial regions, and urban areas all emit large amounts of highly contaminated wastewater (Nookwam et al., 2022 ). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), providing good quality water for sustainable development of the society, wastewater treatment is essential before its discharge into surface water systems to protect the environment and public health.

According to Lamastra et al. ( 2016 ), more than 700 different metabolites and emerging pollutants are discharged into the environment without treatment. This fact is further worse by the lack of knowledge about the transportation, destination, and toxic potential of these toxic contaminants when they entered into the ecosystem, besides hampering the development of environmental policies controlled by regulatory agencies that promote the sustainable treatment and management of pollutants in the open environment (Taheran et al., 2018 ). However, the persistent increase of these in the contaminated site still present due to the consumerist profile of the current society (Vasilachi et al., 2021 ). In this context, biocatalysis plays a vital role in the growth of many industries, such as food, energy, and fine chemistry, since this green alternative allows replacing traditional processes through the use of microorganisms and their enzymes in catalytic reactions that can be applied in the biodegradation of various organic and emerging contaminants present in various agro-industrial and industrial effluents, reducing environmental concerns and improving the water quality after the use of microbiotecnologies.

Physicochemical approaches such as membrane filtration, ion exchange, advanced oxidation processes, and coagulation/flocculation, despite their efficacy, are not preferred due to sensitivity to variable water input, excessive chemical consumption, high operational costs, and the generation of a large amount of sludge as well as secondary pollutants. Although traditional wastewater treatment technologies are widely used, they fail to eradicate numerous complex contaminants. These chemicals eventually make their way into wastewater, posing a threat to water quality (Fito and Van Hulle, 2021 ; Daud et al., 2022 ). Even after secondary treatment, wastewater is expected to produce substantial volumes of new and complex contaminants that are always more difficult to deal with. Adequate wastewater treatment is rarely achieved by the use of a single treatment technique.

There is an urgent need to develop a cost-effective, efficient, and comprehensive technologies or improve the existing methods through some interventions for adequate treatment and eliminating pollutants from wastewater to achieve environmental sustainability (Varjani et al., 2020 ; Shah et al., 2022 ). In the recent past, innovative integrated treatment technologies by coupling two or more biological, physical, and chemical processes to remediate or clean up many environmental contaminants from wastewater have been gained worldwide attention ( Figure 1 ). Overall, this Research Topic (RT) provided an appropriate platform for discussing current trends, developments, and applications of integrated treatment technologies in the degradation and detoxification of wastewater or pollutants, including new emerging contaminants, industrial discharges, and municipal wastewater treatment plants.

Various integrated environmental technology used for wastewater treatment and management.

This RT consists of three research articles and four reviews contributed by leading experts from around the globe. The first research article, which was contributed by Verdel et al. and the team, has focused on the development of a biobased approach for the remediation of white water utilizing an indigenous bacteria isolate. Authors developed a bacterial consortium comprises Aeromonas sp. RES19-BTP, Cellulosimicrobium sp. AKD4- BF, Sphingomonas sp. BLA14-CF, and Xanthomonadales sp. CST37-CF for degradation of organic additives. The consortium immobilized on carriers showed a reduction of COD up to 88% in the white-water in a pilot-scale 33-liter tubular reactor filled with white water even after 21 days. Marathe et al. investigated the phytotreatment efficiency of low-cost organic raw materials for the remediation of saline effluent generated by tannery, textile, and pulp-paper industries. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), wastewater having high total dissolved solids (TDS; 2,000 mg/L) is laid under severe restriction use for irrigation due to high salt accumulation in crop roots resulting in a total loss in crop yield. Authors used saline wastewater had high TDS (6,143.33 mg/L) for its treatment using lysimeters aided with organic filter bedding raw material as planted with potential plant, Eucalyptus camaldulensis . E. camaldulensis plant species displayed high efficiency to treat wastewater simultaneous accumulation of the high amount of sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and produce higher biomass, and chlorophyll content without showing any negative impact on the growth as a function of wastewater. The high TDS management efficiency of coconut and rice husk as bedding material in a combination with forestry plant species was highest compared to other tested organic raw materials. The authors concluded that organic waste based amendments are an eco-sustainable option for managing saline wastewater.

Mishra et al. reviewed bacterial-assisted degradation of toxic dyes used in textile, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals industries and other co-contaminants that pose a significant threat to humans and the ecosystem. Thus, public demands for decontaminated effluent to the receiving environment have made degradation, decolorization, and detoxification of contaminated wastewater discharges from industries a top priority. The authors highlight the decolorization and biodegradation mechanisms of various azo dyes by several bacterial enzymes. In addition, molecular docking of bacterial enzymes with dye molecules gives a new insight at the molecular level to explore the detailed mechanism of bacterial enzymes in dye degradation. The authors also discussed the molecular and physiological capabilities of isolates, which were beneficial for bioremediation processes.

Mathew et al. summarized the integrated algae and bacterial approaches for the degradation of contaminated sewage water. Due to the presence of an overwhelming blend of numerous refractory chemicals, the conventional approaches are unsuitable neither as on-site nor as a centralized treatment, and the urgent need of specific treatments is required. The integrated use of microbes for biodegradation is convenient because it is versatile, has dynamic metabolisms. The direct application of algae also helps to remove toxic heavy metals like aluminum, nickel, copper, etc. with simultaneous reduction of nutrients from the wastewater. Their growth also creates the potential for biofuels and bioproducts from their biomass. The augmentation of potent bacterial islates further enhanced the remediation efficacy of the wastewater. This happens as the inorganic nutrients was assimilated into the algal biomass whereas bacteria utilized organic nutrients. Furthermore, the mutualistic exchange of carbon dioxide and oxygen between bacterial and algae species helps intensify the photosynthetic activity of algae while oxidation-reduction by bacteria lead to the removal of nutrients from wastewater.

In general, one of the key motives of research organizations around the world is to develop technological improvements directed at the production chain of sustainable processes. Beyond the current topic's scientific, technological, and environmental importance, it is critical to develop integrated treatment methods for long-term development, using alternate reuse techniques concurrently to treat these residues and other resistant harmful chemicals. The latest recent innovations in integrated wastewater treatment methods provide an option to deal with organic and developing pollutants and increase process efficiency, making biotech and associated businesses more appealing because they use higher added value renewable inputs. At the same time, it enables creative methods to treat these residues and other resistant aromatic compounds via biological treatment systems, with the possibility of linking to new processes, and the practicality of deployment in biorefineries and meet the circular bioeconomy.

In summary, the new knowledge provided by the articles in this RT will expand our understanding of the current development in wastewater treatment by emerging integrated approaches and enable us to reach eco-sustainable treatment technology to obtain safe wastewater.

Author Contributions

VK drafted this editorial, which all authors reviewed and commented on, and eventually approved the final version of the manuscript for publication.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Publisher's Note

All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Acknowledgments

We wish to acknowledge the Frontiers Editorial Office for their assistance in completing this RT. We are also grateful to all authors for their outstanding contributions to this RT with readers and the scientific community. We would like to thank the reviewers for assuring the quality of the papers in this RT.

• Daud N. M., Abdullah S. R. S., Hasan H. A., Dhokikah Y. (2022). Integrated physical-biological treatment system for batik industry wastewater: a review on process selection . Sci. Total Environ . 819 , 152931. 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.152931 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
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Cost may not keep many people from filling opioid addiction treatment prescriptions

by University of Michigan

When people get a prescription for the opioid addiction medication called buprenorphine, they almost always fill it—even if they have to pay more out of their own pocket, a new study shows. The paper is published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine .

Whether it's their first prescription for the medication, or they've been taking it for months, nearly all patients pick up the order from the pharmacy, according to the new findings from a University of Michigan team. Even among those just starting on buprenorphine , higher costs aren't a deterrent.

The researchers say this suggests that removing barriers that prevent clinicians from prescribing buprenorphine should be the main focus of efforts to increase the number of people with opioid addiction who get treated with buprenorphine.

"Our findings suggest that cost-sharing may not be a particularly strong barrier to buprenorphine dispensing," said Kao-Ping Chua, M.D., Ph.D., a member of the U-M Opioid Research Institute who is an assistant professor in the U-M Medical School and School of Public Health. "This may be because patients understand how effective buprenorphine is and are willing to pay for it."

In the study, the researchers report findings from an analysis of more than 2.3 million pharmacy records for buprenorphine prescriptions in 2022 for 286,000 people with private insurance , and more than 1.2 million similar records for nearly 145,000 people with Medicare.

Just over 1 in every 100 buprenorphine prescriptions sent to pharmacies were abandoned by the patients—that is, they were not picked up in the 14 days after the pharmacy received the prescription.

Moreover, the research shows that for every $10 increase in cost-sharing, there was only a minimal increase in abandonment of prescriptions—just one-tenth of one percentage point.

This contrasts with another recent paper the team published , on cost-sharing for naloxone, a medication that can save a person from dying if they overdose on any opioid.

In that paper, every $10 increase in cost-sharing was associated with an increase in abandonment of 2 to 3 percentage points.

Costs and behaviors

Even when the monthly cost of buprenorphine was $150 or more, which it was for 3% of people with commercial insurance, less than 6% of the prescriptions were abandoned. Less than 1% of people with Medicare coverage had cost-sharing over $100, but even among them, abandonment was rare, ranging from just under 2% to just over 3%.

The researchers looked at data for five different forms of immediate-release buprenorphine products, both generic and name-brand formulations, prescribed to patients of all ages. About half of the prescriptions were for a generic form of a film containing both buprenorphine and naloxone that patients put under their tongue or on the inside of their cheek to dissolve.

Long-acting injections for opioid use disorder and patches used for pain relief were not included.

The average cost for a month's supply of their prescribed product was $28 for people with commercial insurance and $8 for those with Medicare.

But 44% of people with commercial insurance paid $10 or less for a month's supply, as did 84% of those with Medicare coverage. And the cost was less than $20 a month for 66% of commercially insured and 92% of Medicare participants.

Trends in people new to addiction medication

People who hadn't been on buprenorphine before were more likely to abandon prescriptions, and the chance of abandonment was highest for those who would pay the most for their first prescription.

The researchers suggest that this was likely due in part to the fact that patients new to the drug hadn't yet experienced its impacts on their cravings for opioids.

Still, less than 5% of new-to-buprenorphine patients abandoned their first prescription even at monthly costs of up to $70.

This is lower than the overall rate of prescription abandonment among people new to any drug, as reported by the health care analytics company, IQVIA, whose data the U-M team used.

Additional study information

The researchers didn't study prescriptions for people covered by Medicaid, because that program for people with very low incomes has minimal to no cost-sharing for medications. They also couldn't tell what kind of cost-sharing individuals had, whether it was co-pays, deductibles or co-insurance, though they did know what the final cost would be after any coupons from manufacturers.

Just over 8% of people with commercial insurance and nearly 15% of those with Medicare coverage received a prescription for brand name, as opposed to generic, buprenorphine products. Manufacturers of brand name medications may offer coupons to those with high costs ; the new study is based on the cost to a patient after any such coupon is applied.

Other research on buprenorphine use has shown people falling off their treatment, including for those with private insurance that involves cost-sharing. The new study suggests that this may have much more to do with a gap in continuous prescriptions, or the cost of seeing a provider to get a prescription renewed, rather than patients not filling a prescription when they get one.

Chua is co-director of the Research and Data Domain at the U-M Opioid Research Institute (ORI), as well as a faculty member in the Susan B. Meister Child Health Evaluation and Research Center (CHEAR) and the Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation (IHPI).

Co-authors include Thuy Nguyen, Ph.D., a health economist at the U-M School of Public Health and member of ORI and IHPI; ORI co-director Amy Bohnert, Ph.D., ORI/IHPI member Pooja Lagisetty, M.D., M.S., CHEAR member Usha Nuliyalu, M.S., and Rena Conti, Ph.D., from Boston University.

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Research identifies possible new pathway to treatment of colorectal cancer

Research led by Irving Coy Allen in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine has unlocked a pathway to possible future treatments for colorectal cancer in humans.

A paper published in May in the American Gastroenterological Association journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology focuses on NF-kB-inducing kinase (NIK) and its importance in triggering cellular responses that reduce the risk of the development of colorectal cancer.

"The gene itself is colloquially called NIK, and it encodes a protein that is a kinase, which means it basically turns on or turns off -- mostly turns on -- lots of different genes and pathways," said Allen, professor of inflammatory diseases in the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathology. "It gives us a central spoke in a hub of biological mechanisms that can be targeted with possible therapeutics. We do know that there are companies working on developing drugs to target NIK. We're hoping that this can provide them with incentive to go after these drug candidates more aggressively."

Colorectal cancer is second deadliest form of cancer in the United States, killing over 52,000 people in 2023. Present treatment options are often based on chemotherapy and can be difficult for the patient to endure.

"By identifying new markers and new drug targets, it may provide us with better therapeutic approaches that can minimize side effects and improve overall patient outcomes," Allen said.

While much of the study was conducted examining mice, and that alone could have generated valuable research, Allen's team took the extra step of translating it directly to human patients.

"By modeling it in mice, we were able to identify things to look for in humans," Allen said. "Through collaboration with the Duke University Medical Center and colleagues here at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, we were able to get human specimens to confirm that what we were observing in the mouse models was also true in in human colorectal cancer patients."

The medical application of the findings will be determined in years to come as other researchers seek to identify treatments that can target NIK and its interactions with other proteins.

"Our study identified changes in a significant signaling pathway in human patients," Allen said. "That presents a variety of possible targets that have not been previously evaluated in that pathway where you could potentially design therapeutics."

Publication of the paper represents the conclusion of a lengthy study for Allen. Graduate students Kristin Eden '06, DVM '10, Ph.D. '18; Holly Morrison Ph.D. '23; and Brie Trusiano Ph.D. '24 took turns helping Allen with the research and carrying it to the finish line.

"When I first came here 12 years ago, my postdoctorate work had identified some hints that this pathway might be important in the context of colorectal cancer and also in the context of inflammatory bowel disease," Allen said. "Completion of this work has been very satisfying, knowing that it helped to launch the careers of these three talented graduate students and several undergraduate researchers as well."

Allen said because his studies on the NIK pathway in colorectal cancer are concluded, he and his team will turn toward other types of cancer impacted by NIK and the signaling pathways it controls. But he hopes others can carry the findings forward for life-saving improvements in colorectal cancer treatment.

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Story Source:

Materials provided by Virginia Tech . Original written by Kevin Myatt. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference :

• Holly A. Morrison, Kristin Eden, Brie Trusiano, Daniel E. Rothschild, Yufeng Qin, Paul A. Wade, Audrey J. Rowe, Christina Mounzer, Morgan C. Stephens, Katherine M. Hanson, Stephan L. Brown, Eda K. Holl, Irving C. Allen. NF-κB Inducing Kinase Attenuates Colorectal Cancer by Regulating Noncanonical NF-κB Mediated Colonic Epithelial Cell Regeneration . Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology , 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.jcmgh.2024.05.004

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Design and performance study of carbon fiber-reinforced polymer connection structures with surface treatment on aluminum alloy (6061).

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Zhang, J.; Liu, Y.; Cheng, L.; Kang, D.; Gao, R.; Qin, Y.; Mei, Z.; Zhang, M.; Yu, M.; Sun, Z. Design and Performance Study of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Connection Structures with Surface Treatment on Aluminum Alloy (6061). Coatings 2024 , 14 , 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14070785

Zhang J, Liu Y, Cheng L, Kang D, Gao R, Qin Y, Mei Z, Zhang M, Yu M, Sun Z. Design and Performance Study of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Connection Structures with Surface Treatment on Aluminum Alloy (6061). Coatings . 2024; 14(7):785. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14070785

Zhang, Jianxin, Yang Liu, Lele Cheng, Dongxu Kang, Ruize Gao, Yinle Qin, Zhonghao Mei, Mengshuai Zhang, Muhuo Yu, and Zeyu Sun. 2024. "Design and Performance Study of Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Connection Structures with Surface Treatment on Aluminum Alloy (6061)" Coatings 14, no. 7: 785. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14070785

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