Environmental risks of engineered nanoparticles in municipal wastewater treatment plants: Toxicity, persistence and impacts on effluent quality

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Nanoparticles of silver, titanium dioxide, zinc oxide and other materials can now be found in over 1000 commercial products including non-stick cookware, tennis racquets and fuel cells, as well as in food products, textiles, and personal care products. They represent a diverse group of manmade materials that have at least one dimension less than thousand times the diameter of human hair. Due to the changes in the chemical properties that occur as one approaches the nanoscales they have been shown to have significantly different reactivity from either the bulk materials or dissolved ions. In spite of their growing and widespread use, the impacts of these materials on the environment and human health are largely unknown. Nanoparticles present in personal care products (cosmetics, toothpastes, sunscreen lotions) are released into municipal sewers from households during washing. There is concern about their eventual fate and impact on the environment and environmental regulators are asking: What concentrations of nanoparticles will be discharged with wastewater effluents into