New Insights into the Occurrence of Micropollutants and the Management and Treatment of Hospital Effluent

This chapter deals with investigations carried out over the last five years on hospital effluent in terms of the occurrence of micropollutants; new and promising technologies tested to improve the removal of key compounds (including emerging contaminants); the environmental and health risk assessments of pharmaceuticals residues and pathogens; and, finally, some of the strategies adopted in hospital effluent management and treatments through the discussion of some case studies. It emerges that the occurrence and treatment of hospital effluent are becoming issues of increasing concern also for countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Iran and Colombia, whose research groups had not actively participated in the worldwide debate thus far. Their interest in these topics highlights the shared, global awareness of the need to adopt safe, economic and technically feasible technologies for the treatment of hospital effluent to reduce the impact on the aquatic environment of hazardous substances typically administered or used in healthcare facilities. The experiences reported and discussed herein demonstrate the worldwide efforts that have been made and are still ongoing with the aim of reaching Sustainable Millennium Goal number 6 “Improve Clean Water and Sanitation” by 2030, as defined by the World Health Organization.