Micropollutants from Diffuse Sources - Risk Assessment
The contamination of our surface waters with organic trace substances represents a challenge to water protection. In contrast to the MicroPoll project of the FOEN, which was focused on micropollutants entering surface waters via wastewater effluents, this successor project analyses the substances entering surface waters from diffuse sources. Diffuse exposure mainly originates from agriculture, façade protection, and gardens. Hence, the project focus is on product groups such as plant protection products, biocides, and veterinary drugs.
The Ecotox Centre determines quality criteria for 35-40 substances prioritised within the scope of the project, i.e. it establishes ecotoxicologically based guidelines to be observed for attaining a quality target specified for the water quality. The quality criteria are derived according to the methods published on our Web site and proposed to the FOEN as numerical water quality requirements. In the derivation, we have incorporated various quality assurance steps such as appraisal by external experts and continuous exchange with experts from the EU.
Publications
Final report: Beurteilungskonzept für Mikroverunreinigungen aus diffusen Einträgen
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