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Just as WFD provides a way to manage water across administrative boundaries, WFD chemicals bridges the legislation covering aquatic environment and chemicals source control. Considering the monitoring evidence collected under WFD can tell us about the effectiveness of source control legislation for the aquatic environment. This feedback for chemicals in water addresses a key information need, since most existing legislation for chemicals source control has no monitoring (e.g. REACH, biocides). It is also an opportunity to highlight the links along the Drivers-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) chain from the sources all the way into the aquatic environment, and possibly identify gaps in reporting obligations.

The report draws on additional data sources in particular from other reporting streams, e.g. for the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR) and the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive. It also draws on the Water Information System for Europe State of Environment (WISE-SoE) reporting for emissions.  Data for EEA member countries outside the EU have been incorporated where possible.

Monitoring requirements typically address well-known pollutants such as mercury, lead etc. This means that the availability of data for these substances should be relatively high, while information for most, more recently identified pollutants is much lower. Over recent years, scientific concern has risen in relation to the potential effects of mixtures of chemicals on aquatic life. There is particular concern in relation to substances designed to kill, such as pesticides, where combinations of substances at low concentration can be present in the same time and place. Advances in chemical analysis, using biological effects methods to take these combinations into account, can provide ways to identify risks to the environment.

Recent research linking chemical contamination with ecological effects in the aquatic environment is included in chapter 2, in particular from the European FP7 Research Project “Solutions for present and future emerging pollutants in land and water resources management” (SOLUTIONS)[1]. Some consideration of the research into new methods for chemical assessment, such as non-targeted screening and other integrative monitoring methods, is provided.