Remediation potential of agricultural organic micropollutants in in-situ techniques

Abstract

Agricultural activities can be important source of organic pollution. In agricultural intensive areas, organic chemicals have a high possibility of entering the water cycle, which could pose a potential risk to human health. Low-cost and high efficiency in-situ techniques instead of energy and money consuming ones to control agricultural organic micropollutants (Agro-OMPs) in aquatic system are extremely needed. In this paper, emerging Agro-OMPs were discussed focusing on their occurrence, pathways and risks. The mechanisms, dominant parameters and effectiveness of riverbank filtration, riparian buffer zone, constructed wetland and permeable reactive barriers for removing these pollutants are presented and discussed. Ecological succession in Riverbank Filtration (RBF) system is worth noticing for its stability maintenance. Riparian buffer zone (RBZ) should be explored more focusing on flexibility improvement and construction standardization. Constructed wetland (CW) is quite efficient on antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) attenuation, but the risk of ARGs propagation still exist. Besides, more innovations should be made on combination, field-scale application and long-term evaluation of in-situ remediation techniques, which will provide references for agricultural water management and water quality improvement.