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The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged healthcare systems worldwide. Efforts in low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs) cannot keep stride with infection rates, especially during peaks. A strong international collaboration between Arizona State University (ASU), Tec de Monterrey (TEC), and Servicios de Agua y Drenaje de Monterrey (Local Water Utilities) is acting to integrate wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) of SARS-CoV-2 in the region as a complementary approach to aid the healthcare system. Wastewater was collected from four sewer catchments in the Monterrey Metropolitan area in Mexico (pop. 4,643,232) from mid-April 2020 to February 2021 (44 weeks, n = 644). Raw wastewater was filtered and filter-concentrated, the RNA was extracted using columns, and the Charité/Berlin protocol was used for the RT-qPCR. The viral loads obtained between the first (June 2020) and second waves (February 2021) of the pandemic were similar; in contrast, the clinical cases were fewer during the first wave, indicating poor coverage. During the second wave of the pandemic, the SARS-CoV-2 quantification in wastewater increased 14 days earlier than the COVID-19 clinical cases reported. This is the first long-term WBE study in Mexico and demonstrates its value in pandemic management.

Endocrine disrupting chemicals are a group of contaminants that have severe effects on humans and animals when exposed, like cancer and alterations to the nervous and reproductive systems. The increasing concentrations of several endocrine disrupting chemicals in the environment are strongly related to anthropogenic activities, and as the population grows this problem becomes more relevant. Thus, wastewater is one of the main sources of endocrine disrupting chemicals, and the technologies employed during primary and secondary treatment in wastewater treatment plants cannot remove these contaminants. Due to this, researchers have tried to develop more efficient technologies for tertiary treatment of wastewater and reduce the concentration of endocrine disrupting chemicals discharged into the environment. Some of the most promising technologies include adsorption, ultrafiltration, advanced oxidation processes and biodegradation. The use of nanomaterials as adsorbents, catalysts, membranes and supports has played a key role in enhancing the efficiency of these technologies. The results showed that these technologies have great potential on the lab-scale, and even some of them have already been employed at some wastewater treatment plants. However, there are still some challenges to achieving a global implementation of these technologies, related to reducing the costs of materials and enhancing their current performance. The use of biomass/waste derived carbon materials and implementing hybrid technologies are accessible approaches for their implementation in tertiary treatment.

Microalgae and cyanobacteria are photosynthetic microorganisms' sources of renewable biomass that can be used for bioplastic production. These microorganisms have high growth rates, and contrary to other feedstocks, such as land crops, they do not require arable land. In addition, they can be used as feedstock for bioplastic production while not competing with food sources (e.g., corn, wheat, and soy protein). In this study, we review the macromolecules from microalgae and cyanobacteria that can serve for the production of bioplastics, including starch and glycogen, polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), cellulose, polylactic acid (PLA), and triacylglycerols (TAGs). In addition, we focus on the cultivation of microalgae and cyanobacteria for wastewater treatment. This approach would allow reducing nutrient supply for biomass production while treating wastewater. Thus, the combination of wastewater treatment and the production of biomass that can serve as feedstock for bioplastic production is discussed. The comprehensive information provided in this communication would expand the scope of interdisciplinary and translational research.

During the last decades, the growth of concern towards different pollutants has been increasing due to population activities in large cities and the great need for food production by the agri-food industry. The effects observed in specific locations have shown the impact over the environment in air, soil and water. Specifically, the current pandemic of COVID-19 has brought into the picture the intensive use of different medical substances to treat the disease and population intensive misuse. In particular, the use of antibiotics has increased during the last 20 years with few regulations regarding their excessive use and the disposal of their residues from different sources. Within this review, an overview of sources of antibiotics to aquatic environments was done along with its impact to the environment and trophic chain, and negative effects of human health due prolonged exposure which endanger the environment, population health, water, and food sustainability. The revision indicates the differences between sources and its potential danger due toxicity, and accumulation that prevents water sustainability in the long run.

The presence of pharmaceutical residues in urban and non-urban water is a reflection of the continuous growth of an essential industry, whose residues are often released into the environment throughout the manufacturing processes of commercial drugs, and by the human and veterinarian consumption of these products. Pharmaceutical residues are currently classified as emerging contaminants, and their documented occurrence in waters has rocketed since recent discoveries have demonstrated a series of toxicological and ecotoxicological effects associated with the interaction with these molecules. Moreover, several complications have been identified in the instrumental techniques traditionally used for their detection, although their remarkable analytical characteristics, deriving in the absence of response when these emerging contaminants are present at low concentrations in aquatic matrices. Microfluidic analytical platforms are practical, portable, and low-cost solutions that have been successfully used for the screening of pharmaceuticals in environmental matrices in situ. In this short review, various essential aspects of these technologies were presented. Additionally, recent approaches for water analysis using different types of microfluidic technologies for detecting drugs were exposed, finding a promising potential on the exploiting of the features offered by these platforms for this particular application.

Climate change is a shift in the average weather patterns, which could stand for a long-term period. This phenomenon is related to greenhouse gas emissions generated by anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic activities. The most notable climate change effects are the rise of sea levels, changes in the water pH, apparition or increased transmission of diseases, changes in the water cycle, loss of marine ecosystems, and several negative impacts on human health. Due to the adverse effects occasioned by climate change, global initiatives have been taken to mitigate its impact, one of these is the reduction of greenhouse gases such as CO2. Some microorganisms such as photosynthetic bacteria and microalgae can capture CO2 and use it as a carbon source for growth. The outstanding CO2 bio-capture or CO2 phycocapture capacity shown by microalgae make them excellent candidates for reduction of atmospheric CO2 in cities. CO2 phyco-capture equivalent CO2 emissions in Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) was determined as a case study, considering greenhouse gas emissions in this city. It was estimated that 94,847 tons of microalgae biomass must be produced daily to equal the amount of CO2 emissions (170,726 CO2-eq per day), thus obtaining a zero balance of emissions. For the above, CO2 phyco-capture implementation can be possible in cities and also in open spaces and that even its production can work as the carbon credits nowadays implemented, the space required, and the high capture rate led us to consider that the microalgae production on a larger scale may have a faster effect on the concentration of CO2 globally, which can help with greater urgency to the aims established by 2030.