November 15, 2024 by Lucy Kennelly
Recently, I attended a two-day workshop in Zurich to take part in the development of new guidance on monitoring frequency for chemical substances under the Water Framework Directive (WFD). The workshop was hosted by German and Swiss regulators, and was attended by participants of the European Union Working Group Chemicals, additional representatives of Member States, and other stakeholders.
The WFD sets down requirements for EU Member States to analytically determine the concentrations of chemicals in their surface waters. This new guidance aims to clarify legal requirements relating to the frequency of measurements for priority substances listed in the WFD that all Member States must monitor, and river basin specific pollutants of regional or local importance identified by Member States. It is designed to support Member States in optimising their monitoring programmes to account for available resources and specific conditions.
During the workshop, participants discussed aspects of the circulated draft guidance document, including situations where less frequent monitoring is justified, situations where more frequent monitoring is recommended, and how to assess the compliance of analytical measurements against Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) for priority substances. For example, it was discussed whether less frequent sampling could be conducted for ubiquitous Persistent, Bioaccumulative and Toxic (uPBT) substances, as the concentrations of these substances would not be expected to change much due to their persistence in the environment. This would reduce the time and effort spent monitoring these particular substances, allowing resources to be allocated more effectively.
wca submitted comments on the draft guidance prior to the workshop, and I reinforced several discussion points during the meeting. In particular, we recommended that the principles of the Criteria for Reporting and Evaluating Exposure Datasets (CREED) method be incorporated into the guidance. This would be useful in developing a purpose statement to help form the monitoring programme and sampling frequency, and to ensure a relevant and reliable dataset for the purpose of the assessment.
The guidance will now be revised based on the workshop discussions, with aim for finalisation by January 2025 and adoption by the end of 2025.
If you would like to know more about our work within the Water Framework Directive, CREED, or any other aspects of monitoring of chemicals in the environment, please contact us for more information.