1. Nutrient Criteria to Protect Aquatic Life of Streams and Lakes in Intensive Agricultural Watersheds
2. Landscape controls on diffuse nutrient transfers in agricultural catchments
3. Managing Urban Stormwater Quality in a Changing Climate: Science, Engineering and Policy
4. Management Practices to Reduce Nutrient Loss from Agricultural Systems: Research Results Establishing Effective and Non-effective Conservation Practices
5. Emerging Contaminants in Groundwater and Surface Water: Selected Substances, Sources, Monitoring, Risk Assessment and Management
6. Water Quality Trading: Pre-requisite Analyses
Back to the Open Workshops Introduction
Emerging Contaminations in Groundwater and Surface Water:
Selected Substances, Pathogens, Sources, Monitoring, Risk Assessment and Management
Hazardous substances in the aquatic system are under consideration for a long time; with different uses also the relevance of pathogens increased. In groundwater for a long time nitrate, solvents and selected pesticides – especially lipophilic substances- were in the focus and in surface water oxygen depletion and eutrophication were important. With the application of new detection methods, we are able to find concentrations of drugs, personal care products (e.g. musk fragrances, repellents), technical products (e.g. bisphenol A, nonylphenol, tributy tin compounds, detergents (LAS, NPE, QAC)), contaminations from construction materials (e.g. pesticides), contamination from traffic (e.g. heavy metals, oxygenates, PAH, nitro-PAH, mineral oils), food ingredients (artifical sweeteners) in the ng- and sub-ng range. Some of these contaminants are mutagenic, genotoxic or toxic for reproduction (CMR substances), endocrine disruptors or allergic; but some are less toxic or do not show toxic effects in the measured concentrations. For the priorisation of potential management measures, a risk assessment for the standard setting and monitoring programmes are necessary. In terms of pathogens, also new detection methods allow to link diseases with well-known or emerging waterborne pathogens.
In this workshop scientists, practitioners, politicians and people from administration should present there evaluation methods for new (and old) pollutants and pathogens to set targets (for quick reaction and on a long range), and the appropriate measures which are applied on different levels (best available technologies BAT, best environmental practices BEP) to reach them and what are the required strategies to reach (necessary) political decisions.
The discussion could be initiated after a short presentation on emerging contaminants, sources, environmental concentrations and effects and the EU strategy of the WFD (2000/60) including the list of selected substances from 2008.
Critical questions to which answers will be discussed include:
- How shall we assess and priories “less toxic” substances?
- Which method for pathogen detection shall we choose?
- How can we communicate the risk - especially when it does not exist?
- How can we get necessary political decisions?
- The monitoring of substances is much cost intensive, will it be possible to measure effects in complex samples instead of single chemical substances?
- Will it be possible to select lead parameters?
- Which practices will be appropriate for contamination reduction of diffuse sources?
Chair: Maria Fürhacker, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna, Austria, maria.fuerhacker@boku.ac.at
Secretary: Graham Wilkes, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Canada, Geospatial & Water Quality Research Support Specialist
Invited Talks:
1 – Tamara Grummt*, Risk assessment for emerging contaminants in the water cycle: recent advances and future needs.
2 – Ed Topp**, Fecal contamination in mixed activity watersheds: Developments in human risk assessment and risk management.
* Research scientist, German Federal Environmental Agency, Branch Bad Elster, Martin Luther University of Halle, Germany
** Research Scientist, Southern Crop Protection and Food Research Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC), London ON.
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