Almost all Earth water resources are now contaminated at various levels by toxic compounds (Morin-Crini et al. 2022). Indeed, as the years go by, research is disclosing the presence in ecosystems of both recently-designed industrial compounds such as engineered nanoparticles, and old industrial compounds that have occurred in ecosystems since a long time but have been detected only recently, such as microplastics, and per- and poly-fluoro alkyl substances (PFAS), named ‘forever chemicals’ (Banu et al. 2021, Anand et al. 2023, Wang et al. 2023, Dadashi Firouzjaei et al. 2022, He et al. 2024). This issue is inducing an arms race between the ever-renewed pollution and environmental scientists who must find innovative techniques to remove contaminants in order to provide drinkable water and to lessen ecosystem pollution. Here, we narrate the history of the major treatment techniques with emphasis on newly-developped ultraviolet irradiation-based advanced oxidation processes.

几乎所有的地球水资源现在都受到不同程度的有毒化合物污染（Morin-Crini 等人，2022 年）。事实上，随着时间的推移，研究揭示了生态系统中存在最近设计的工业化合物，例如工程纳米颗粒，以及生态系统中长期存在但最近才检测到的旧工业化合物，例如微塑料，以及全氟和多氟烷基物质 （PFAS），被称为“永久化学品”（Banu 等人，2021 年， Anand 等人，2023 年，Wang 等人，2023 年，Dadashi Firouzjaei 等人，2022 年，He 等人，2024 年）。这个问题正在引发一场不断更新的污染和环境科学家之间的军备竞赛，他们必须找到创新技术来去除污染物，以提供可饮用的水并减少生态系统污染。在这里，我们讲述了主要处理技术的历史，重点是新开发的基于紫外线照射的高级氧化过程。