"Transformation, fate and effect of emerging contaminants in treatment wetland systems"

清洁的水对于维护人类和环境健康至关重要，因此将水处理作为社会的首要任务。对水污染的日益增长的健康和环境问题使药物和纳米材料特别令人感兴趣。止痛药、抗生素和避孕药中使用的合成雌激素等药物化合物通过身体排泄和处理进入我们的下水道系统。这些化合物已被证明可以通过我们目前的废水处理设施，到达湖泊和河流等各种水体。低水平接触这些化合物对人类和环境健康构成严重风险。纳米材料行业提供了令人兴奋的新技术和材料的可能性，但与制药业类似，随着行业的不断发展，预计也会产生环境排放。纳米材料对环境的影响尚不清楚。纳米材料将如何从水处理设施中去除也没有得到很好的理解。由于纳米材料行业仍在增长，因此有机会研究废水处理设施中纳米材料的去除，并了解在纳米材料处置和释放开始之前释放到环境中可能产生的任何毒性影响。拟议的研究将调查处理湿地（TW）（为处理水而建造的湿地系统）的使用，以去除水中的药物和纳米材料。TW中水处理的主要去除机制是常驻细菌群落使用许多不同类型的化学品和化合物作为食物来源的能力。细菌已经被证明可以利用某些药物作为食物来源。重点将给予量化的药物和纳米材料在TW的去除动力学。将评估TW中细菌群落的健康和稳定性，处理污染物的TW的健康，以及纳米材料和药物对土壤和湿地微生物的任何毒性影响。

Clean water is essential in maintaining both human and environmental health, putting water treatment as a top societal priority. Growing health and environmental concerns regarding water contamination have made both pharmaceuticals and nanomaterials of particular interest. Pharmaceutical compounds such as painkillers, antibiotics and the synthetic estrogen used in birth control pills enter our sewer systems through bodily excretion and disposal. These compounds have been shown to pass through our current waste water treatment facilities, reaching various water bodies such as lakes and rivers. Low level exposure to these compounds represents a serious risk to human and environmental health. The nanomaterial industry offers exciting new technological and material possibilities, however in a similar manner to pharmaceuticals, with a growing industry environmental releases are also expected. The effect of nanomaterials on the environment is not yet well known. How well nanomaterials will be removed from water treatment facilities is also not well understood. As the nanomaterial industry is still growing there is an opportunity to study the removal of nanomaterials in waste water treatment facilities and understand any possible toxic effects if released to the environment before disposal and release of nanomaterials begins. The proposed research will investigate the use of treatment wetlands (TWs) (wetland systems constructed for the treatment of water) for the removal of pharmaceuticals and nanomaterials from water. The dominant removal mechanism of water treatment in TWs is the resident bacterial communities ability to use many different types of chemicals and compounds as a food source. Bacteria have been shown to use some pharmaceuticals as a food source. Focus will be given to quantifying the removal kinetics of pharmaceuticals and nanomaterials in TWs. The health and stability of the bacterial communities in the TWs, the health of the TWs treating the contaminants, and any toxic effects of the nanomaterials and pharamceuticals on soil and wetland microorganisms will be assessed.