Technology Critical Elements in groundwater resources - knowledge and gaps in the early 2020's

Groundwater is a crucial resource for humans, used as drinking, agricultural, or industrial water. While aquifer pollution may cause dramatic loss of water supply, currently increasing pressure is exerted on these systems. Technology Critical Elements (TCEs) are a group of naturally occurring elements gaining recent attention regarding their extensive use in various technological applications. Growing emissions into the environment classify them as emerging contaminants, though scarce information is yet available in the literature. Ongoing advances in analytical methods have provided some TCE environmental levels but very little is known about their distribution, behavior, and fate, particularly for subsurface waters. This review summarizes the latest research on TCEs in groundwater resources and highlights the gaps of knowledge remaining in this field.