Assessment micropollutants removal by full scale tertiary ozonation performance through chemical and effect-based analysis

Abstract : Dissemination of micropollutants in the environment is becoming a major issue to preserve and recover good status of water bodies. Municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) secondary effluent discharge is one the main routes followed by several micropollutants to enter the environment, such as hormones, medicines or pesticides. It is particularly worrying for the compounds that are endocrine disruptors and/or that can induce geno- and cyto-toxicity. Monitoring of micropollutants in the environment based on chemical concentrations in water is nowadays limited compared to the large variety of contaminants and their possible biological effects. The complementary approach based on effect-based analyses offers a new perspective to better characterise the presence of micropollutants, process efficiency for their removal and potential impact on the receiving water body.