Metadata supporting the article: Urbanization: an increasing source of multiple pollutants to rivers in the 21st century
Creators: name: Strokal, Maryna
name: Bai, Zhaohai
name: Franssen, Wietse
name: Hofstra, Nynke
name: Koelmans, Albert A.
name: Ludwig, Fulco
name: Ma, Lin
name: Puijenbroek, Peter van
name: Spanier, J. Emiel
name: Vermeulen, Lucie C.
name: Vliet, Michelle T.H. van
name: Wijnen, Jikke van
name: Kroeze, Carolien
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2021
Subjects: Earth Sciences not elsewhere classified
Environmental Science
Geochemistry not elsewhere classified
Sociology and Social Studies of Science and Technology
Simulation and Modelling

description: Most of the global population will live in urban areas in the 21<sup>st</sup> century. In this article, the authors study the impacts of urbanization on future river pollution taking a multi-pollutant approach. They quantify combined point-source inputs of nutrients, microplastics, a chemical (triclosan) and a pathogen (<i>Cryptosporidium</i>) to 10,226 rivers in 2010, 2050 and 2100, and show how pollutants are related.<br><b>Data access</b>: All the datasets generated and analysed during this study are publicly available in the Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS Easy) repository: <b>https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zyx-jce3</b>. The data will be available for download from 01-04-2021.Corresponding author details: Dr. Maryna Strokal, email address: <b>maryna.strokal@wur.nl</b>. <br><b>Study aims and methodology</b>: Urban areas currently accommodate more than half of the global population and generate over twothirds of the world gross domestic products (GDP). In 2050, more than two-thirds of the global population will live in cities. Rapid urbanization creates opportunities for economic developments but may also increase the use of freshwater resources. This will increase competition for water between cities and agriculture. More urban waste is likely to result in contamination of water with multiple pollutants such as nutrients and pathogens from human excretion, plastics, and chemicals from personal care products.In this paper, the authors study the impacts of urbanization on river pollution in the 21<sup>st</sup> century, taking a multi-pollutant perspective. They define multi-pollutant problems as increasing levels of more than one pollutant to rivers in future decades. They analyse, simultaneously, the following groups of pollutants: nutrients (N and P), pathogens (such as <i>Cryptosporidium</i>), microplastics and chemicals (such as triclosan). These pollutants are selected because of their increasing pollution in many rivers worldwide.To assess impacts of urbanization, the authors developed five scenarios with different levels of urbanization and wastewater treatment rates. The storylines are interpretations of the five Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). The following scenarios were developed: low urbanization and low wastewater treatment rates (Low<sub>urb</sub>-Low<sub>wwt</sub>, based on SSP3), moderate urbanization and moderate wastewater treatment rates (Mod<sub>urb</sub>-Mod<sub>wwt</sub>, based on SSP2), high urbanization and low wastewater treatment rates (High<sub>urb</sub>-Low<sub>wwt</sub>, based on SSP4), high urbanization and moderate wastewater treatment rates (High<sub>urb</sub>-Mod<sub>wwt</sub>, based on SSP5), and high urbanization and high wastewater treatment rates (High<sub>urb</sub>-High<sub>wwt</sub>, based on SSP1).For more details on the methodology, please refer to the related article.<br><b>Datasets supporting the figures and supplementary figures and tables in the article</b>: Information on the data file names and folders can be found in the file <b>Strokal, M. et al.xlsx.</b><br>