Industrial wastewater toxicity: threats to aquatic ecosystems and innovative water treatment solutions

Over population, climate change, and pollution threaten clean water access, emphasizing the importance of wastewater treatment. Aquatic life has a significant impact on the environment, particularly on fish, which provide a great food source in the world. Industrial effluents have negative effects on marine life since they are discharged directly into rivers, lakes, and other water bodies without proper treatment. This leads to biodiversity loss and disturbance of ecological nature. Effluents are complex mixtures of toxic substances such as organic substances, heavy metals, and other new contaminants. This review article summarizes the current studies on ecotoxicological impacts of industrial discharge on aquatic organisms. The toxicant entry routes and bioaccumulation in fish, invertebrates, and other microorganisms are studied, which can lead to reproductive dysfunction, developmental retardation, and mortality increase. This review highlights the overview of the traditional and the modernized wastewater treatment processes. Traditional approaches such as activated sludge, chlorination and artificial ponds are discussed, whereas progressive approaches include UV disinfection, advanced oxidation, membrane bioreactor, reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, and AI-based optimization. These modern technologies remove pollutant effectively however, require high energy input and operational costs.