24. April 2014, Topic: Aquatic Ecotoxicology Risk Assessment

New EU report on effect-based monitoring tools

Under the Water Framework Directive, the water quality needs to be reliably monitored. In addition to analytical methods, integrative methods that measure the water quality on the basis of the effect or potential harm to aquatic organisms should play an important role. Therefore, under the Common Implementation Strategy of the Water Framework Directive, the working group "Chemical Monitoring and Emerging Pollutants" identified the state of the art and possible applications for effect-based detection methods for water pollutants. A new report describes how these tools can help member states to implement monitoring programs. The methods can also help to improve the understanding of the relationship between the chemical and ecological status of water bodies and to assess the effects of unknown substance mixtures. The Ecotox Centre contributed to the report, which discusses both in vitro and in vivo bioassays as well as biomarkers and environmental indicators .

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