Derivation of ecotoxicologically based quality criteria

In April 2020, the revised Water Protection Ordinance (GSchV) came into force which contains ecotoxicologically based numerical requirements for 19 pesticides and 3 pharmaceuticals. The underlying quality criteria were derived by the Ecotox Centre on behalf of the Federal Office for the Environment. Recent surface water monitoring has shown that there are further pesticides and micropollutants in Swiss streams occurirng in concentrations that may be problematic for aquatic organisms. The Ecotox Centre is therefore deriving additional quality criteria that will serve as a basis for the inclusion of further numerical requirements in the GSchV.

In addition, ad hoc quality criteria for numerous pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals are determined for a situation analysis by the VSA Water Quality Platform, which will allow an initial approximate risk assessment. Substances selected on this basis will be measured in the NAWA programme from 2022 to assess their real water relevance.

At EU level, the Ecotox Centre is supporting work on substance dossiers for possible priority substances under the Water Framework Directive that are also relevant for Switzerland. In this way, harmonisation between Swiss and EU values should be achieved.