Risk Assessment of Emerging Contaminants in Urban and Natural Water Sources around Bloemfontein, South Africa: Implication for Environmental Sustainability

Emerging contaminants are present in the water and need to be monitored and managed as they are of major environmental and health concern universally. Exposure to emerging contaminants in water sources can pose a significant risk to both aquatic species and human health. This study assessed the risks of emerging contaminants in urban and natural water sources. A high-performance liquid chromatography connected to a hybrid triple quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometer was used to analyse the targeted emerging contaminants. The ecological and human health risk assessment methods were used to assess the possible risks of contaminants. Emerging contaminants such as 17-ethinyl-estradiol, simazine, ibuprofen, atrazine, carbamazepine, terbuthylazine, and metolachlor showed the possibility of high ecological risks to aquatic species. Risk mixture values in all water sources showed that the aquatic species are at high risk in all seasons. The non-carcinogenic risk of all selected herbicides in all water sources showed risk quotient values below 1 for the entire population, signifying that the population is safe. Atrazine is the only contaminant that showed high carcinogenic risk to the adult group in river water during the summer season. It can be concluded that aquatic species and public health are at risk. The outcomes of the study may aid in the development of environmental quality standards for regulatory and environmental sustainability purposes