The terms organic micropollutants or emerging contaminants are used to refer to unregulated organic trace pollutants that are frequently detected in environmental matrices, especially surface waters (Magi et al., 2018). These compounds include pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), pesticides and surfactants. They are released to aquatic environments mainly through effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (Chen et al., 2016; Yang et al., 2017). Although the pollutant concentrations often occur at trace or ultra-trace levels (ng L−1 or pg L−1), their presence is considered a potential risk to the environment and human health. Thus, monitoring programs are essential to determine their concentrations and consequent ecotoxicological risk in the environment (Fedorova et al., 2014; Ibrahim et al., 2013; Magi et al., 2018).