Fate and transport in environmental quality

Authors: Pachepsky, Yakov; Anderson, Raymond - Ray; HARTER, THOMAS - Uc Davis Medical Center; JACQUES, DIDERIK - Belgian Nuclear Research; JAMIESON, ROBERT - Dalhousie University; JEONG, JAEHAK - Texas Agrilife Research; KIM, H - Jeonbuk National University; OUYANG, Y - Us Forest Service (FS); WAN, YONGSHAN - Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); ZHANG, W - University Of Illinois

Submitted to: Journal of Environmental Quality
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/13/2021
Publication Date: 11/23/2021
Citation: Pachepsky, Y.A., Anderson, R.G., Harter, T., Jacques, D., Jamieson, R., Jeong, J., Kim, H., Ouyang, Y., Wan, Y., Zhang, W. 2021. Fate and transport in environmental quality. Journal of Environmental Quality. 50(6):1282-1289. https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20300.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/jeq2.20300

Interpretive Summary: Changes in pollutant concentrations in environmental media occur both due to pollutant transport in water or air and local processes, such as adsorption, degradation, precipitation, straining, etc. The term “fate and transport” reflects the coupling of moving with biological and geochemical processes of local transformations or interactions. Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) was one of the first to publish papers on fate and transport (F&T). This paper is a minireview written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of JEQ and show how the research interests, methodology, and public attention have been reflected in F&T publications in JEQ during the last 40 years. We review the developments in major focus areas and emphasize the role of long-term F&T studies and modeling. F&T studies have been an essential part of the conservation measure evaluation and comparison and ecological risk assessment. This review will be useful for researchers and practitioners studying F&T in that it can help to place their projects in the context of general trends in the science of environmental quality.

Technical Abstract: Changes in pollutant concentrations in environmental media occur both due to pollutant transport in water or air and due to local processes, such as adsorption, degradation, precipitation, straining, etc. The terms “fate and transport” and “transport and fate” reflect the coupling of moving with the carrier media and biogeochemical processes describing local transformations or interactions. Journal of Environmental Quality (JEQ) was one of the first to publish papers on fate and transport (F&T). This paper is a minireview written to commemorate the 50th anniversary of JEQ and show how the research interests, methodology, and public attention have been reflected in fate and transport publications in JEQ during the last 40 years. We report the statistics showing how the representation of different pollutant groups in papers changed with time. Major focus areas appear to be effect and solution composition and concurrent F&T, the role of organic matter, and the relative role of different F&T pathways. The role of temporal and spatial heterogeneity was studied at different scales. Value of long-term F&T studies and developments in modeling as the F&T research approach was amply demonstrated. F&T studies have been an essential part of the conservation measure evaluation and comparison and ecological risk assessment. For 50 years, the Journal of Environmental Quality has delivered new insights, methods, and applications related to fate and transport science. The importance of its service to society is recognized, and new generations of F&T researchers will be welcome to present their contributions to JEQ. JEQ expects to receive F&T manuscripts and publish F&T papers exploring innovative changes and results of environmental science in changing world.