The presence of emerging contaminants (ECs) in the environment has been consistently recognized as a worldwide concern. ECs may be defined as chemicals or materials found in the environment at trace concentrations with potential, perceived, or real risk to the “One Health” trilogy (environment, human, and animal health). The main concern regarding pharmaceuticals and in particular antibiotics is the widespread dissemination of antimicrobial resistance. Nevertheless, non-antimicrobials also interact with microorganisms in both bulk phase and in biofilms. In fact, drugs not developed for antimicrobial chemotherapy can exert an antimicrobial action and, therefore, a selective pressure on microorganisms. This review aims to provide answers to questions typically ignored in epidemiological and environmental monitoring studies with a focus on water systems, particularly drinking water (DW): Do ECs exposure changes the behavior of environmental microorganisms? May non-antibiotic ECs affect tolerance to antimicrobials? Do ECs interfere with biofilm function? Are ECs-induced changes in microbial behavior of public health concern? Nowadays, the answers to these questions are still very limited. However, this study demonstrates that some ECs have significant effects in microbial behavior. The most studied ECs are pharmaceuticals, particularly antibiotics, carbamazepine and diclofenac. The pressure caused by antibiotic and other antimicrobial agents on the acquisition and spread of antibiotic resistance seems to be unquestionable. However, regarding the effects of ECs on the development and behavior of biofilms, the conclusions of different studies are still controversial. The dissimilar findings propose that standardized tests are needed for an accurate assessment on the effects of ECs in the microbiome of water systems. The variability of experimental conditions, combined with the presence of mixtures of ECs as well as the lack of information about the effects of non-pharmaceutical ECs constitute the main challenge to be overcome in order to improve ECs prioritization.

环境中新出现的污染物（EC）的存在一直被公认为全世界关注的问题。ECs可以定义为在环境中发现的痕量浓度的化学物质或材料，对“一个健康”三部曲（环境，人类和动物健康）具有潜在，感知或实际风险。关于药物尤其是抗生素的主要关注是抗菌素耐药性的广泛传播。然而，非抗微生物剂还可以在体相和生物膜中与微生物相互作用。实际上，未开发用于抗微生物化学疗法的药物可以发挥抗微生物作用，因此对微生物具有选择性压力。这篇综述旨在提供针对流行病学和环境监测研究中通常被忽略的问题的答案，重点是水系统，尤其是饮用水（DW）：ECs暴露会改变环境微生物的行为吗？非抗生素EC是否会影响对抗菌素的耐受性？EC是否会干扰生物膜功能？ECs引起的公共卫生微生物行为变化是否受到关注？如今，这些问题的答案仍然非常有限。但是，这项研究表明，某些EC对微生物行为具有重大影响。研究最多的EC是药品，尤其是抗生素，卡马西平和双氯芬酸。毫无疑问，抗生素和其他抗微生物剂对获得和传播抗生素耐药性的压力。然而，关于EC对生物膜的发育和行为的影响，不同研究的结论仍存在争议。不同的发现表明，需要标准测试来准确评估EC在水系统微生物组中的作用。实验条件的可变性，加上EC混合物的存在，以及缺乏有关非药物EC效果的信息，构成了要改善EC优先级的主要挑战。