Freshwater in Europe is polluted worse than estimated

(Go to page) - The goal of significantly improving freshwater quality by 2015 is the declared goal of EU member states, denoted by the requirements of the guidelines for domestic limit indicators. (Water Framework Directive - WFD).

A recent study was conducted by Landau Environmental Science Research Institute (Institute for Environmental Sciences Landau) with Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research - UFZ) and member scientists. From France (Lorraine University and EDF) and Switzerland (the Federal Research Institute for Water Science and Technology - EAWAG, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology), this goal seems impossible to achieve. due to high concentrations of toxins in the water.

One of the reasons is that current assessments of water quality improvement do not take into account the effects of toxic chemicals. This study, for the first time, reflects across Europe, showing that the ecological risks caused by toxic chemicals are much greater than the usual assumption.

So far environmental authorities and parts of the scientific community have argued that toxic chemicals are a local problem, affecting only a few watersheds. However, current research shows that, on a large scale, ecological risks stem from chemical toxins for thousands of European ecosystems . Chemical toxicity represents an ecological hazard that reaches nearly half of the catchments in Europe, and in about 15% of cases, organisms in freshwater ecosystems may die suddenly. .

A passage of the Danube

The reality of the European aquatic ecosystem may be worse.

Together, French and Swiss researchers and scientists from Landau and Leipzig considered the risk thresholds in the river basin of the network of major streams, such as the Danube and the Rhine. For the first time, an expansion to threatening thresholds was assessed for three groups of organisms, including fish, invertebrates and algae, the main production organisms, which were estimated for major river basins. this. The data used is derived from water monitoring activities in recent years. The sampling range varies significantly in space and time, so direct comparison between countries is quite difficult.

For example, the study found that the water quality in France was the worst, probably because the country had installed a dense monitoring network and analyzed water samples with countless indicators. Includes compounds related to ecosystem poisoning .

Meanwhile, in other countries, on the contrary, the risks remain undetected, unrecognized due to the unresponsive sensitivity of chemical analyzes or the list of compounds to be observed in relation to Ecological poisoning is not fully listed.'Generally it is more likely that we have underestimated the risks rather than appreciated in our analysis' , the head of the research team, professor, Dr. Ralf B.Schäfe from the institute Landau's Environmental Science study explains. 'The actual state and environment of European freshwater ecosystems may be even worse'.

The basic factors that contribute to chemical pollution of those ecosystems are the discharge from agricultural activities, urban areas and urban wastewater treatment plants . Pesticides are important toxic substances for freshwater ecosystems, although organotin compounds, flame retardants containing bromine and incomplete combustion of polychlorinated aromatic hydrocarbons have also appeared in the concentration range. term

EU standards and requirements relate to the current water quality indicators, mainly focusing on the presence of the first considerations, which are about 40 identified hazardous chemicals. Especially with water environment. Fortunately, these hazardous substances are no longer allowed to be used, and therefore, high concentrations of these substances are decreasing in many areas of European rivers.

"However, the real problem here is that a large number of chemicals currently in use are not included in the list of indicators for wastewater monitoring ," said Dr. Werner Brack from the Center for Environmental Research. Helmholtz in Leipzig said, recent findings suggest that for certain substances the level of recognition of the concentration may be too high.