Paul Whitehouse Chair, EG-EQS Technical Guidance for deriving Environmental Quality Standards under the WFD Update from EG-EQS Paul Whitehouse Chair, EG-EQS

Outline Background Terms of Reference Way of working Progress Timetable to completion Issues for WG-E to consider

EQSs - background Environmental Quality Standards “the concentration of a pollutant, or group of pollutants, in water, sediment or biota that should not be exceeded in order to protect human health and the environment” Used to … classify waterbodies (alongside biological and physical metrics) Calculate discharge permits

EQSs - background EQS derivation Control of emissions Role in waterbody classification Priority Hazardous Substances set at EU level Phase out emissions, discharges and losses Chemical assessment in parallel to ecological assessment Priority Substances Emissions managed to ensure EQS compliance ‘Specific Pollutants’ set by Member States Forms part of ecological assessment

Technical guidance - background Annex V of the WFD sets out principles for deriving EQSs - based on effects assessment paradigm for chemical risk assessment Requires supporting technical guidance, including protection of sediments risks from secondary poisoning of wildlife and humans Setting EQSs for TraC and marine waters Lepper 2005 Some outstanding technical issues remain CSTEE comments Paper by Bonnomet and Alvarez (2006) scientific developments e.g. SETAC 2006

EG-EQS: Terms of Reference EG-EQS established in 2007 under WG-E to address these outstanding issues Terms of Reference: Identify themes to address Develop interim methodology Help the Commission to derive these EQSs Guidance should: be consistent with REACH guidance as far as possible balance best available science with achievability be applicable to revised list of priority substances and ‘Specific Pollutants’

Agreed themes EQSs for the water column EQSs to protect biota (predators and humans) from secondary poisoning Sediment EQSs Dealing with metals Non-testing methods / dealing with groups of chemicals ‘Generic’ issues

Non-testing methods / chemical groups Editing and compiling guidance Technical groups work to agreed principles ‘Instructions’ to assessors i.e. “ how to” Scientific principles in background documents Common template Way of working Water standards Biota standards Sediment standards Drafting Groups EG-EQS members invited experts led by rapporteur Metals Non-testing methods / chemical groups Generic issues Editing and compiling guidance Chair, EG-EQS Final draft guidance

Which receptors does the Technical Guidance cover? Environmental compartment Water Sediment Biota Receptor(s) at risk Humans  (drinking water)  (secondary poisoning) Benthic biota Pelagic biota

EQS derivation - overview Identify receptors and compartments at risk Identify assessments that need to be undertaken (‘trigger’ criteria) Identify critical properties of substance and collect ecotoxicity (and possibly computational) data for use as input to standard-setting process. Collate and quality assess data Extrapolation to threshold concentration using deterministic or probabilistic methods applied to toxicity data from laboratory or field studies. Extrapolation Proposed EQS Proposed threshold concentration that applies in water column, sediment or biota. Identify key assumptions and uncertainties. Select ‘overall’ EQS Implement EQS Appropriate expression of EQS and technical advice on compliance assessment regime

Technical working groups EQS derivation (priority substances) Timetable Kick-off meeting (plenary EG-EQS) plenary EG-EQS plenary EG-EQS Review of guidance (national experts and EG-EQS) First edit Final edit Deliver draft guidance Review guidance 2007 2008 2009 Technical working groups EQS derivation (priority substances)

Progress to date (Sept 2008) Introduction Generic issues Water column Biota EQSs Sediment EQSs Metals Non-testing methods complete 75% 60% 90% 95% All issues raised by CSTEE addressed in guidance

Working drafts of the guidance documents can be found at: http://ecb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/eg-eqs/

Issues for discussion - 1 ‘Good’ ecological status does not require pristine biology. Should the protection goals for EQSs be consistent with biological definitions of ‘Good’ status? Priority substances vs ‘Specific Pollutants’ Link level of protection afforded by EQS to ecological status - refer to normative definitions of ecological status when selecting assessment factors to derive EQSs BIOLOGICAL METRICS CHEMICAL METRICS High <LOD Good Pass EQS Moderate Fail EQS Poor Bad

Issues for discussion - 2 Some EQSs may be subject to high levels of uncertainty e.g. because of a lack of data. To what extent should the guidance influence how an EQS is implemented e.g. as a statutory standard or guideline value? Sediment and biota standards only for trend analysis – not for waterbody classification? Derivation of EQSs is a technical issue but the intended use of an EQS is a policy decision. Assessor advises policy by highlighting uncertainty associated with a proposed EQS and the steps that could be taken to reduce uncertainty (e.g. commissioning new data – a specific CSTEE recommendation). Report template prompts for this information.

Issues for discussion – 3 + 4 What is the role for EG-EQS in deriving EQSs for new priority substances? Is there any intention to review EQSs for existing priority substances? FHI factsheets recommended to incorporate new data in Pb and PAH EQSs. EG-EQS to advise Commissions’ contractor and provide technical review of their outputs Sediment and biota EQSs should be derived where they are not yet available. Review existing EQSs where there are significant amounts of new data (e.g. Pb and PAHs) - the values could change.

Issues for discussion - 5 The WFD requires derivation of EQSs (that apply in ‘raw’ water) to protect drinking water. The process uses existing DW standards but some of these are not toxicologically-based. Derivation of new drinking water standards lies outside the remit (and expertise) of EG-EQS

Generic issues – key points Protection goals for EQSs Triggers for biota and sediment EQSs Selecting an ‘overall’ EQS Data collection and quality assessment Relationship with existing risk assessments How to express EQSs and links to monitoring guidance

EQSs for the water column – key points Guidance on deriving long-term and short term EQSs to protect against direct toxicity to aquatic organisms + humans (drinking water source) Data Combining FW and SW data Use of mesocosm data Non-testing methods Preferred methods of extrapolation Relationship between AA and MAC Translating water column EQS into EQS on SPM

EQSs for biota – key points EQSs for bioaccumulative substances Guidance on deriving EQSs to protect predators and humans from secondary poisoning EQS expresses as conc in diet – links to monitoring Additional guidance for top predators Guidance on conversion to equivalent water standard – inadvisable for highly hydrophobic substances

EQSs for sediment – key points Guidance on derivation of EQSs to protect sediment biota Lack of data means we have to be more ‘inclusive’ ‘Weight of evidence’ approach, combining ecotox data, field data and equilibrium partitioning Role and statutory status of sediment EQSs?

Metals – key points Guidance on deriving EQSs for metals (water, biota and sediment) (Bio)availability covered in detail Added risk approach accepted when EQS ~ background Adherence to TGD AFs can result in EQSs < background Physical effects of metals e.g. Fe, Al requires different approach – field evidence

Non-testing methods/chemical groups – key points Acknowledge role of non-testing methods: consistent with REACH QSARs, category approaches (to infer physicochemical and toxicological properties) Main role is to help reduce uncertainty (reduce AF) rather than act as ‘critical’ data