The Second IASTED African Conference on
Water Resource Management
~AfricaWRM 2008~
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INNOVATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
September 8 – 10, 2008
Gaborone, Botswana
SPECIAL SESSION
Xenobiotics in Waters and Wastewaters:
Their Fate, Effect and Removal Potential
Abstract
For much of the last thirty years, research on the effects of chemical pollution on water resources has focused almost exclusively on conventional ´priority´ pollutants. However, during the last several years there has been a growing level of concern related to the hypothesis that various chemicals may exhibit endocrine disrupting effects. The presence of endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) in wastewater treatment plant effluents, receiving waters, drinking water, and groundwater has become an emerging issue of great interest, although it is probable that these compounds have been entering surface- and groundwater systems for as long as people have been using them. The emerging interest is due to increased incidences of endocrine-related diseases in humans, including declining male fertility, and more significantly, to adverse physiological effects observed in wildlife, where cause and effect relationships are more evident. In fact, the evidence from these incidences suggests that the changes in the reproductive health of humans, including breast and testicular cancer, birth defects, etc. could be linked to exposure to EDCs. EDCs or potential EDCs include compounds such as alkylphenols, alkylphenol polyethoxylates, PAHs, PCBs, phthalates, bisphenol-A, polybrominated flame retardants, dioxins, furans, herbicides, pesticides, and steroid hormones. Another group of substances currently under investigation are personal care products and pharmaceutical active ingredients.
Important recent findings of various research groups in Europe and the US point to the inefficiency of current methods to remove such compounds from both drinking water and urban sewage treatment works. According to these findings, a great number of xenobiotics escape tertiary treatment and thus enter receiving waters either in their parent form or as intermediate products. Advanced chemical oxidation processes (AOPs) are quite fascinating since they employ chemical, photochemical and sonochemical techniques to bring about chemical degradation/mineralization of such pollutants.
The theme of the special session, strongly related to the environmental concerns associated with xenobiotics, embraces the following topics:
- Effective analytical protocols capable of monitoring such compounds in water and wastewater samples (tracing xenobiotics in water and wastewater samples)
- Evaluation of the potential impacts of compounds that resist degradation, as well as breakdown products (metabolites) (toxicity and estrogenicity tests)
- Physico-chemical and biological treatment technologies that can be employed for the removal of xenobiotics from waters and wastewaters
Biography of the Presenter
Despo Fatta Kassinos is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) of the University of Cyprus. She received her first degree from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece in 1993, (Diploma in Chemical Engineering), her MSc in Environmental Management from the European Association for Environmental Management and Education in 1995, (University of Athens, Greece - JRC Ispra, Italy), and her PhD from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece in 1999, (PhD in Chemical Engineering). Between 1999 and 2004, she was an inner circle expert for the European Topic Center of Waste and Material Flows of the European Environment Agency. Her principal research interests are in the field of 'Chemicals in the environment - Water and wastewater treatment and reuse'. The overarching goal of her research is to develop and apply new methods to identify emerging chemical compounds in waters and wastewaters, assess their toxicity, and develop new methods for the degradation and removal of recalcitrant compounds. She has authored or co-authored 34 refereed journal papers, 70 papers in refereed conference proceedings and five technical manuals. She has participated in more than 40 projects funded by the European Commission or by national governmental and other bodies.
Please email all submisssions to dfatta@ucy.ac.cy by April 30, 2008.
Important Deadlines
| Submissions due | April 30, 2008 |
| Notification of acceptance | May 21, 2008 |
| Final manuscripts due | June 20, 2008 |
| Registration deadline | July 1, 2008 |
