Focus on Micropollutants

‘Micropollutants’ encompass a very wide range of chemicals — pesticides, medicines and personal care products, industrial additives, flame retardants, surfactants, etc. — present in water in very low concentrations (generally in the range of ng/L to µg/L) but which, through chronic exposure or combined effects, can pose risks to ecosystems and human health . The massive and widespread production of chemical compounds (hundreds of thousands of substances on the market) makes their presence in the environment ubiquitous and heterogeneous.