The SOLUTIONS project: Challenges and responses for present and future emerging pollutants in land and water resources management

Werner Brack*, Rolf Altenburger, Gerrit Schüürmann, Martin Krauss, David López Herráez, Jos van Gils, Jaroslav Slobodnik, John Munthe, Bernd Manfred Gawlik, Annemarie van Wezel, Merijn Schriks, Juliane Hollender, Knut Erik Tollefsen, Ovanes Mekenyan, Saby Dimitrov, Dirk Bunke, Ian Cousins, Leo Posthuma, Paul J. van den Brink, Miren López de AldaDamià Barceló, Michael Faust, Andreas Kortenkamp, Mark Scrimshaw, Svetlana Ignatova, Guy Engelen, Gudrun Massmann, Gregory Lemkine, Ivana Teodorovic, Karl Heinz Walz, Valeria Dulio, Michiel T O Jonker, Felix Jäger, Kevin Chipman, Francesco Falciani, Igor Liska, David Rooke, Xiaowei Zhang, Henner Hollert, Branislav Vrana, Klara Hilscherova, Kees Kramer, Steffen Neumann, Ruth Hammerbacher, Thomas Backhaus, Juliane Mack, Helmut Segner, Beate Escher, Gisela de Aragão Umbuzeiro

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

SOLUTIONS (2013 to 2018) is a European Union Seventh Framework Programme Project (EU-FP7). The project aims to deliver a conceptual framework to support the evidence-based development of environmental policies with regard to water quality. SOLUTIONS will develop the tools for the identification, prioritisation and assessment of those water contaminants that may pose a risk to ecosystems and human health. To this end, a new generation of chemical and effect-based monitoring tools is developed and integrated with a full set of exposure, effect and risk assessment models. SOLUTIONS attempts to address legacy, present and future contamination by integrating monitoring and modelling based approaches with scenarios on future developments in society, economy and technology and thus in contamination. The project follows a solutions-oriented approach by addressing major problems of water and chemicals management and by assessing abatement options. SOLUTIONS takes advantage of the access to the infrastructure necessary to investigate the large basins of the Danube and Rhine as well as relevant Mediterranean basins as case studies, and puts major efforts on stakeholder dialogue and support. Particularly, the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) working groups, International River Commissions, and water works associations are directly supported with consistent guidance for the early detection, identification, prioritisation, and abatement of chemicals in the water cycle. SOLUTIONS will give a specific emphasis on concepts and tools for the impact and risk assessment of complex mixtures of emerging pollutants, their metabolites and transformation products. Analytical and effect-based screening tools will be applied together with ecological assessment tools for the identification of toxicants and their impacts. The SOLUTIONS approach is expected to provide transparent and evidence-based candidates or River Basin Specific Pollutants in the case study basins and to assist future review of priority pollutants under the WFD as well as potential abatement options.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)22-31
Number of pages10
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume503-504
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Jan 2015

Keywords

  • Effect-based tools
  • Environmental risk assessment
  • Exposure and risk modelling
  • Mixture toxicology
  • Water Framework Directive
  • Water policy

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