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The widespread use of chemicals has led to significant water quality concerns, and their use is still increasing. Hence, there is an urgent need to understand the possible future trends in chemical emissions to water systems. This paper proposes a general framework for developing emission scenarios for chemicals to water using the Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs) based on an emission-factor approach. The proposed approach involves three steps: (i) identification of the main drivers of emissions, (ii) quantification of emission factors based on analysis of publicly available data, and (iii) projection of emissions based on projected changes in the drivers and emission factors. The approach was tested in Europe for five chemical groups and on a national scale for five specific chemicals representing pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. The resulting emission scenarios show widely diverging trends of increased emissions by 240% for ibuprofen in SSP3 (regional rivalry) to a 68% decrease for diclofenac in SSP1 (sustainable development) by 2050. While emissions typically decrease in SSP1, they follow the historical trend in SSP2 (middle-of-the-road scenario) and show an increase in the regional rivalry scenario SSP3 for most selected chemicals. Overall, the framework allows understanding of future chemical emissions trends as a function of the socio-economic trends as captured in the SSPs. Our scenarios for chemical emissions can thus be used to model future aqueous emissions to support risk assessment. While the framework can be easily extended to other pharmaceuticals and pesticides, it heavily leans on the availability and quality of historical emission data and a detailed understanding of emission sources for industrial chemicals., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A plethora of in vitro bioassays are developed in the context of chemical risk assessment and clinical diagnostics to test effects on different biological processes. Such assays can also be implemented in effect-based monitoring (EBM) of (drinking) water quality alongside chemical analyses. Effects-based monitoring can provide insight into risks for the environment and human health associated with exposure to (unknown) complex, low-level mixtures of micropollutants, which fits in the risk-based approach that was recently introduced in the European Drinking Water Directive. Some challenges remain, in particular those related to selection and interpretation of bioassays. For water quality assessment, carcinogenesis, adverse effects on reproduction and development, effects on xenobiotic metabolism, modulation of hormone systems, DNA reactivity, and adaptive stress responses are considered the most relevant toxicological endpoints. An evaluation procedure of the applicability and performance of in vitro bioassays for water quality monitoring, based on existing information, has been developed, which can be expanded with guidelines for experimental evaluations. In addition, a methodology for the interpretation of in vitro monitoring data is required, because the sensitivity of specific in vitro bioassays in combination with sample concentration may lead to responses of chemicals (far) below exposure concentrations that are relevant for human health effects. Different approaches are proposed to derive effect-based trigger values (EBTs), including EBTs based on (1) relative ecotoxicity potency, (2) health-based threshold values for chronic exposure in humans and kinetics of reference chemicals, and (3) read-across from (drinking) water guideline values. Effects-based trigger values need to be chosen carefully in order to be sufficiently but not overly conservative to indicate potential health effects. Consensus on the crucial steps in the selection and interpretation of in vitro bioassay data will facilitate implementation and legal embedding in the context of water quality monitoring of such assays in EBM strategies. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2019;15:126-134. © 2018 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)., (© 2018 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).)

The present study explores the ToxCast/Tox21 database to select candidate bioassays as bioanalytical tools for measuring groups of chemicals in water. To this aim, the ToxCast/Tox21 database was explored for bioassays that detect polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), aromatic amines (AAs), (chloro)phenols ((C)Ps) and halogenated aliphatic hydrocarbons (HAliHs), which are included in the European and/or Dutch Drinking Water Directives. Based on the analysis of the availability and performance of bioassays included in the database, we concluded that several bioassays are suitable as bioanalytical tools for assessing the presence of PAHs and (C)Ps in drinking water sources. No bioassays were identified for AAs and HAliHs, due to the limited activity of these chemicals and/or the limited amount of data on these chemicals in the database. A series of bioassays was selected that measure molecular or cellular effects that are covered by bioassays currently in use for chemical water quality monitoring. Interestingly, also bioassays were selected that represent molecular or cellular effects that are not covered by bioassays currently applied. The usefulness of these newly identified bioassays as bioanalytical tools should be further evaluated in follow-up studies. Altogether, this study shows how exploration of the ToxCast/Tox21 database provides a series of candidate bioassays as bioanalytical tools for measuring groups of chemicals in water. This assessment can be performed for any group of chemicals of interest (if represented in the database), and may provide candidate bioassays that can be used to complement the currently applied bioassays for chemical water quality assessment., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The chemical water quality is often assessed by screening for a limited set of target chemicals. This 'conventional' target analysis approach inevitably misses chemicals present in the samples. In this study a 'broad' target screening approach for water quality assessment using high resolution and accurate mass spectrometry (HR MS) was applied to detect a wide variety of organic chemicals in 42 groundwater samples. In this approach, both known and unidentified chemicals observed in previous samples define the training set for the analysis of future samples and, additionally, new samples can be used to extend the training set. Nearly 400 chemicals were observed in the samples, of which 82 were known and more than 313 are of unknown identity. The obtained results were interpreted in relation to the source characteristics and land use. Groundwater that was affected by landfills showed the highest total MS response (ion counts) and most individual chemicals and was therefore considered most contaminated. Furthermore, river bank filtrated water was generally more contaminated than phreatic groundwater and groundwater from (semi)confined aquifers was most pristine. Additionally, industrial chemicals were more frequently observed in river bank filtrated water and pesticides were more frequently observed in water originating from rural areas. The 'broad' target screening approach for both known and unidentified chemicals does provide more information on the over-all water quality than 'conventional' target analysis., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

We determined pesticide occurrence in groundwater and surface water sources used for drinking water production in The Netherlands, using both routine monitoring data from Dutch drinking water companies and by studying the presence of newly authorized pesticides in drinking water sources. An analytical LC-MS/MS method was developed for 24 recently authorized pesticides, selected based on their mobility and persistence, and applied in a Dutch/Belgian ground- and surface water monitoring campaign. 15 of these pesticides were detected, including seven in concentrations above the water quality standard from the Water Framework Directive. Two neonicotinoids were detected in highest concentrations: acetamiprid (1.1 μg/L) and thiamethoxam (0.4 μg/L). The routine monitoring data was collected over 2010–2014 in The Netherlands, covering 408 pesticides and 52 metabolites. 63 pesticides and 6 metabolites were prioritized according to their presence in groundwater, surface water and drinking water. The vast majority of the pesticides in routine monitoring has not been detected or only in low concentrations. Overall, the study shows that pesticides are of major concern in drinking water sources across the Netherlands. In two third of the abstraction areas pesticides and/or metabolites have been detected. In one third of the abstraction areas pesticide and/or metabolites concentration exceeded water quality standards according to the Water Framework Directive. The results emphasize that monitoring should focus on priority pesticides, since the vast majority of the pesticides has a low priority. The occurrence of recently authorized pesticides in drinking water sources demonstrates the importance to keep routine monitoring methods up to date. • 15 out of 24 recently authorized pesticides were detected, including neonicotinoids. • Of 408 pesticides and 52 metabolites, 63 pesticides and 6 metabolites were prioritized. • In the majority of drinking water sources, pesticides and/or metabolites were detected. • Some prioritized pesticides were not earlier detected in large monitoring studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the prioritization of more than 5200 anthropogenic chemicals authorized on the European market, we use a large scale liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) suspect screening study. The prioritization is based on occurrence in 151 water samples including effluent, surface water, ground water and drinking water. The suspect screening linked over 700 detected compounds with known accurate masses to one or multiple suspects. Using a prioritization threshold and removing false positives reduced this to 113 detected compounds linked to 174 suspects, 24 compounds reflect a confirmed structure by comparison with the pure reference standard. The prioritized compounds and suspects are relevant for detailed risk assessments after confirmation of their identity. Only one of the 174 prioritized compounds and suspects is mentioned in water quality regulations, and only 20% is mentioned on existing lists of potentially relevant chemicals. This shows the complementarity to commonly used target-based methods. The semi-quantitative total concentration, expressed as internal standard equivalents of detected compounds linked to suspects, in effluents is approximately 10 times higher than in surface waters, while ground waters and drinking waters show the lowest response. The average retention time, a measure for hydrophobicity, of the detected compounds per sample decreased from effluent to surface- and groundwater to drinking water, confirming the occurrence of more polar compounds in drinking water. The semi-quantitative total concentrations exceed the conservative and precautionary threshold of toxicological concern. Therefore, adverse effects of mixtures cannot be neglected without a more thorough risk assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Cohort of 7 million individuals: one of the largest studies in drinking water epidemiology. • Magnesium in drinking water associated with reduced risk for coronary heart disease mortality. • Calcium below 30 mg/L associated with elevated risk for coronary heart disease mortality. • No protective effect of calcium, magnesium, or hardness on cardiovascular disease mortality. • Nitrate in drinking water not related to mortality due to colorectal cancer. Although drinking water in the Netherlands is generally accepted as safe, public concern about health risks of long-term intake still exist. The aim was to explore associations between drinking water quality for nitrate, water hardness, calcium and magnesium and causes-of-death as related to cardiovascular diseases amongst which coronary heart disease and colorectal cancer. We used national administrative databases on cause-specific mortality, personal characteristics, residential history, social economic indicators, air quality and drinking water quality for parameters specified by the EU Drinking Water Directive. We put together a cohort of 6,998,623 persons who were at least 30 years old on January 1, 2008 and lived for at least five years on the same address. The average drinking water concentration over 2000–2010 at the production stations were used as exposure indicators. We applied age stratified Cox proportional hazards models. Magnesium was associated with a reduced risk for mortality due to coronary heart diseases: HR of 0.95 (95% CI: 0.90, 0.99) per 10 mg/L increase. For mortality due to cardiovascular diseases, a 100 mg/L increase in calcium was associated with a HR of 1.08 (95% CI: 1.03, 1.13) and an increase of 2.5 mmol/L of water hardness with a HR of 1.06 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.10). The results show an elevated risk for coronary heart disease mortality at calcium concentrations below 30 mg/L, but over the whole exposure range no exposure response relation was observed. For other combinations of drinking water quality parameters and cause-specific mortality studied, no statistical significant associations were identified. We identified in this explorative study a protective effect of magnesium for the risk of mortality to coronary heart disease. Also we found an increased risk of mortality due to cardiovascular disease associated with the concentration of calcium and the water hardness in drinking water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The detection of many new compounds in surface water, groundwater and drinking water raises considerable public concern, especially when human health based guideline values are not available it is questioned if detected concentrations affect human health. In an attempt to address this question, we derived provisional drinking water guideline values for a selection of 50 emerging contaminants relevant for drinking water and the water cycle. For only 10 contaminants, statutory guideline values were available. Provisional drinking water guideline values were based upon toxicological literature data. The maximum concentration levels reported in surface waters, groundwater and/or drinking water were compared to the (provisional) guideline values of the contaminants thus obtained, and expressed as Benchmark Quotient (BQ) values. We focused on occurrence data in the downstream parts of the Rhine and Meuse river basins. The results show that for the majority of compounds a substantial margin of safety exists between the maximum concentration in surface water, groundwater and/or drinking water and the (provisional) guideline value. The present assessment therefore supports the conclusion that the majority of the compounds evaluated pose individually no appreciable concern to human health. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]