Environmental Policy and Governance of Emerging Contaminants in Drinking Water: A Comparative Analysis of Global Regulations and Remediation Strategies
Abstract
Emerging contaminants (ECs) in drinking water — such as pharmaceuticals, personal care products, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and microplastics — pose growing challenges to environmental health and water governance. Despite increasing scientific attention to their occurrence and potential health risks, regulatory frameworks remain inconsistent across countries, with significant disparities in detection limits, priority substances, and remediation strategies. This review comprehensively analyses environmental policies and governance approaches addressing ECs in drinking water across major global regions. Drawing from peer-reviewed literature and international regulatory documents, we compare how entities such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the European Union, Canada, China, Australia, and several developing nations approach risk assessment, monitoring, and remediation of ECs. We also evaluate the effectiveness of current strategies, identify policy gaps, and examine the influence of socioeconomic, political, and technological factors on regulatory development. Furthermore, we explore adaptive governance models, public engagement, and cross-border cooperation as essential for advancing policy effectiveness. The review concludes with recommendations for harmonising global policy efforts and strengthening local governance structures to ensure safer drinking water systems in the face of evolving chemical threats.
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
1. Richardson, S. D., & Ternes, T. A. (2011). Water analysis: Emerging contaminants and current issues. Analytical Chemistry, 83(12), 4614–4648. doi: 10.1021/ac200915r
2. Carere, M., Polesello, S., Kase, R., & Gawlik, B. M. (2015). The emerging contaminants in the context of the EU Water Framework Directive. In The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, 197–215. doi: 10.1007/698_2015_5011
3. Li, X., Shen, X., Jiang, W., Xi, Y., & Li, S. (2024). Comprehensive review of emerging contaminants: Detection technologies, environmental impact, and management strategies. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 278, 116420. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116420
4. Rodriguez-Narvaez, O. M., Peralta-Hernandez, J. M., Goonetilleke, A., & Bandala, E. R. (2017). Treatment technologies for emerging contaminants in water: A review. Chemical Engineering Journal, 323, 361–380. doi: 10.1016/j.cej.2017.04.106
5. Levin, R., Villanueva, C. M., Beene, D., Cradock, A. L., Donat-Vargas, C., Lewis, J., Martinez-Morata, I., Minovi, D., Nigra, A. E., Olson, E. D., Schaider, L. A., Ward, M. H., & Deziel, N. C. (2023). US drinking water quality: exposure risk profiles for seven legacy and emerging contaminants. Journal of Exposure Science & Environmental Epidemiology, 34(1), 3–22. doi: 10.1038/s41370-023-00597-z
6. Etteieb, S., Magdouli, S., Zolfaghari, M., & Brar, S. (2019). Monitoring and analysis of selenium as an emerging contaminant in the mining industry: A critical review. The Science of the Total Environment, 698, 134339. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134339
7. Zandaryaa, S., Fares, A., & Eckstein, G. (2025). Introduction—Emerging Pollutants in water: Threats, challenges, and research needs. In Advances in water security, 1–7. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-71758-1_1
8. Gogoi, A., Mazumder, P., Tyagi, V. K., Chaminda, G. T., An, A. K., & Kumar, M. (2018). Occurrence and fate of emerging contaminants in water environment: A review. Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 6, 169–180. doi: 10.1016/j.gsd.2017.12.009
9. Aborode, A. T., Adesola, R. O., Idris, I., Adio, W. S., Olapade, S., Oluwafisayo, G., Onifade, I. A., Fakorede, S., Bakare-Abidola, T., Olaoye, J., Ogunyemi, A. D., Ogundijo, O. A., Banwo, O. G., Bakre, A. A., Oladoye, P., Adegoye, G., & Jinadu, N. A. (2025). Challenges associated with PFAS detection method in Africa. Environmental Health Insights, 19. doi: 10.1177/11786302241310430
10. Hou, D., Al-Tabbaa, A., & Luo, J. (2014). Assessing effects of site characteristics on remediation secondary life cycle impact with a generalised framework. Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, 57(7), 1083–1100. doi: 10.1080/09640568.2013.863754
11. EPA. (2020). Environmental Protection Agency. Annual Report and Accounts. Retrieved from https://www.epa.ie/publications/corporate/governance/EPA-Annual-Report-2020.pdf
12. Harris, P., Bhanji, F., Topps, M., Ross, S., Lieberman, S., Frank, J. R., Snell, L., & Sherbino, J. (2017). Evolving concepts of assessment in a competency-based world. Medical Teacher, 39(6), 603–608. doi: 10.1080/0142159x.2017.1315071
13. Kümmerer, K. (2008). Pharmaceuticals in the Environment – A Brief Summary. In Springer eBooks (pp. 3–21). doi: 10.1007/978-3-540-74664-5_1
14. Ranney, M. L., Griffeth, V., & Jha, A. K. (2020). Critical Supply Shortages — The Need for Ventilators and Personal Protective Equipment during the Covid-19 Pandemic. New England Journal of Medicine, 382(18). doi: 10.1056/nejmp2006141
15. UNEP. (2021). UNEP Annual Report 2021. Retrieved from https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/4047346?ln=ru&v=pdf
16. Wang, F., Xiang, L., Leung, K. S., Elsner, M., Zhang, Y., Guo, Y., Pan, B., Sun, H., An, T., Ying, G., Brooks, B. W., Hou, D., Helbling, D. E., Sun, J., Qiu, H., Vogel, T. M., Zhang, W., Gao, Y., Simpson, M. J., & Tiedje, J. M. (2024). Emerging contaminants: A One Health perspective. The Innovation, 5(4), 100612. doi: 10.1016/j.xinn.2024.100612
17. WHO. (2017). World Health Statistics 2017: Monitoring Health for the SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789241565486
18. Dufresne, É., Poder, T. G., Samaan, K., Lacombe‐Barrios, J., Paradis, L., Roches, A. D., & Bégin, P. (2020). SF‐6Dv2 preference value set for health utility in food allergy. Allergy, 76(1), 326–338. doi: 10.1111/all.14444
19. Stefanakis, A. I., & Becker, J. A. (2019). A review of emerging contaminants in water. IGI Global eBooks, 177–202. doi: 10.4018/978-1-7998-1210-4.ch008
20. Zhang, W. (2025). Water treatment technology for emerging contaminants. Water, 17(5), 644. doi: 10.3390/w17050644
21. UNESCO. (2015). International Initiative on Water Quality. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000243651
22. UNDP. (2021). UNDP Annual Report 2021. Retrieved from https://www.undp.org/sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/2022-05/undp-annual-report-2021-v1.pdf
23. Puri, M., Gandhi, K., & Kumar, M. S. (2023). Emerging environmental contaminants: A global perspective on policies and regulations. Journal of Environmental Management, 332, 117344. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2023.117344
24. Fayemiwo, O., & Carden, K. (2022). Emerging contaminants: Approaches for policy and regulatory responses in low-income countries. In Elsevier eBooks, 343–352. doi: 10.1016/b978-0-323-90051-5.00010-9
Article Metrics
Metrics powered by PLOS ALM
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2025 Taiwo Bakare-Abidola, Jelil Olaoye
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Email the author