Danube Watch 3/2017 - SOLUTIONS
SOLUTIONS
Background:The SOLUTIONS project is an EU funded project that seeks to provide new and improved tools, models and methods to support decisions regarding environmental water policies. The overall objective of the project is to produce consistent solutions for the large number of legacy, present and yet to be developed chemicals that pose a risk to European water bodies with regard to ecosystems and human health. In doing so, the project is supporting the review of the Water Framework Directive’s (WFD) priority pollutant lists.
Initiated by the EU Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the SOLUTIONS project is tasked with the creation of a conceptual framework for the evidence-based development of environmental and water policies. International river commissions, European Commission working groups and water-works associations are directly supported with consistent guidance for the early detection, identification, prioritisation, and abatement of chemicals in the water cycle. The project’s approach provides transparent, evidence-based lists and identifies candidates for River Basin Specific Pollutants (RBSPs), along with their predicted no-effect concentrations (PNECs). This data can then be used for basin case studies.
Legacy chemicals are often used or produced by industry, and remain in the environment long after their use has been discontinued. Often not regarded as being harmful when they were originally used, legacy pollutants include heavy metals like lead and mercury. DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), which was widely used as a pesticide throughout most of the twentieth century until it was finally banned worldwide in 2001, is a good example of a legacy chemical that still continues to endanger both wildlife and the environment.
In 2013-14 the SOLUTIONS project provided a substantial contribution to the Joint Danube Survey 3 (JDS3) project by analysing samples for a wide range of hazardous substances. This analysis enabled JDS3 to deal with specific pollutants included in the 2015 update of the Danube River Basin Management Plan. The modelling results and the final list of the Danube River Specific Substances produced by JDS3 will be available in 2018. SOLUTIONS will also focus on point sources for JDS4, which is planned for 2019.
The ICPDR is both a project partner and a member of the SOLUTIONS stakeholders board, and by collaborating closely with the project, it aims to deepen its knowledge of the sources and pathways of hazardous substances in the Danube River Basin. To achieve this, point source sampling is being undertaken at twelve urban Waste Water Treatment Plants (WWTPs) in nine countries to establish just what exactly is being discharged into the Danube’s waters. The exercise is considered to be a pilot study for JDS4.
The sampling exercises were undertaken in close cooperation with the SOLUTIONS team (experts from the Environmental Institute Kos and UFZ Leipzig), the UBA Vienna experts, the PM EG experts, the WWTP operators and laboratory staff and the ICPDR Secretariat.
Site selection
The selection of the WWTPs to be monitored over the course of the SOLUTIONS monitoring campaign was made based on data taken from the 2012 ICPDR Urban Wastewater Inventory. The objective is to ascertain the participant countries' existing levels of technology for wastewater treatment, with the nine countries taking part representing almost 90% of people equivalents treated in the Danube Basin in 2012. Large WWTPs have mainly been selected to ensure the best technical equipment and the best “know how” is available, thereby guaranteeing the optimal implementation of monitoring activities.
Monitoring of effluents
A harmonised sampling strategy has been adopted, undertaking all analyses in two high-end laboratories to provide homogenous information relating to a large range of organic emerging chemicals and heavy metals. By adopting this approach, the study will contribute significantly to reducing knowledge gaps regarding hazardous substance emissions. The objectives of the monitoring campaign are to:
- obtain representative chemical patterns from WWTP effluents with different treatment techniques in different European countries (7-day composite sampling)
- compile representative effect-based patterns for the same WWTP effluents (on-site large volume extraction)
- support the recognition of River Basin Specific Pollutants for the Danube River Basin
- provide a pilot study for the next Joint Danube Survey (point source monitoring)
- provide data for scientists and modellers regarding emission, transport, exposure and risk modelling for the Danube River to compare with JDS3 data
- make all data available to the public via the open access SOLUTIONS / ICPDR platform With these goals in mind, a total of 12 selected treatment plants were sampled between July and September 2017. Laboratory analysis of the sampling carried out is currently on-going (organic parameters: UFZ Leipzig; heavy metals: UBA Vienna). Assessment and dissemination of the results is expected to be completed by January 2018.
