Priority organic micropollutants in water sources in Flanders and the Netherlands and assessment of removal possibilities with nanofiltration

The occurrence of organic micropollutants in ground- and surface waters has become an important concern for the drinking water industry, mainly because of possible related health effects. Due to the polar nature of some of these pollutants, they are not completely removed by traditional water treatment barriers. This paper offers an overview of priority organic micropollutants and their occurrence in Flemish and Dutch water sources. Furthermore, rejection by nanofiltration is qualitatively predicted for the selected priority micropollutants. The qualitative prediction is based on the values of key solute and membrane parameters in nanofiltration. Predicted values are then compared with experimental values obtained from literature. Overall, the qualitative predictions are roughly in agreement with literature values. Prediction based on key parameters may thus prove to be a very quick and useful technique to assess the implementation of nanofiltration as a treatment step for organic micropollutants in drinking water plant design.