Urban wastewaters contain a number of chemical contaminants — including plasticizers, flame retardants, pharmaceuticals, and pesticides. These chemicals are often ecotoxic — for example, those which disrupt hormones in organisms — and are a potential threat to aquatic life. This study aimed to establish a large-scale, environmental risk assessment (ERA) on emerging chemical pollutants continually released in effluent into local watercourses from 10 urban waste-water treatment plants (WWTP) in France.
