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The Partnership for Chemicals Risk Assessment (PARC) is currently under development as a joint research and innovation programme to strengthen the scientific basis for chemical risk assessment in the EU. The plan is to bring chemical risk assessors and managers together with scientists to accelerate method development and the production of necessary data and knowledge, and to facilitate the transition to next-generation evidence-based risk assessment, a non-toxic environment and the European Green Deal. The NORMAN Network is an independent, well-established and competent network of more than 80 organisations in the field of emerging substances and has enormous potential to contribute to the implementation of the PARC partnership. NORMAN stands ready to provide expert advice to PARC, drawing on its long experience in the development, harmonisation and testing of advanced tools in relation to chemicals of emerging concern and in support of a European Early Warning System to unravel the risks of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and close the gap between research and innovation and regulatory processes. In this commentary we highlight the tools developed by NORMAN that we consider most relevant to supporting the PARC initiative: (i) joint data space and cutting-edge research tools for risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern; (ii) collaborative European framework to improve data quality and comparability; (iii) advanced data analysis tools for a European early warning system and (iv) support to national and European chemical risk assessment thanks to harnessing, combining and sharing evidence and expertise on CECs. By combining the extensive knowledge and experience of the NORMAN network with the financial and policy-related strengths of the PARC initiative, a large step towards the goal of a non-toxic environment can be taken. © 2020, The Author(s).

In questo capitolo vengono presentate le elaborazioni effettuate in seno al sottogruppo di lavoro GID dedicato alla gestione, elaborazione e, laddove possibile, prima interpretazione dei dataset raccolti nell'ambito del GdL-MIE. Dopo una prima sezione descrittiva sulle sorgenti di dati analizzate e una breve nota metodologica, vengono riportati i risultati delle analisi effettuate e alcuni approfondimenti sui dataset del CNR-IRSA/CIPAIS, sul dataset del CNR-IRSA e su quello dell'Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri. L'obiettivo principale è stato di mettere in luce la disponibilità di informazione esistente, la sua copertura regionale e nei casi dei dataset più completi, perché generati da studi incentrati specificatamente su microinquinanti e/o comprensivi anche delle matrici legate al biota, delle analisi di dettaglio.

Within continental waters, large lakes present a special interest for monitoring persistent contaminants, because of their physical characteristics, particularly a prolonged residence time. Moreover, professional fisheries take place in these large lakes, entailing human exposure to chemicals bioaccumulated. For these reasons it has long been acknowledged that monitoring persistent contaminants in fish is an essential component of environmental and health risk assessment in such large lakes. We report data on fish contamination by a range of perfluoroalkyl substances for seven European deep lakes located in populated areas, namely Lake Geneva, Lake Lugano and Lake Maggiore (all three being trans-national lakes), and Lake Iseo, Lake Como, Lake Garda and Lake Mergozzo in Italy. In addition, fish from two high altitude alpine lakes in Switzerland (>2000 m) were also sampled. These high altitude lakes were assumed to be references sites, as only atmospheric deposition should bring PFAS to them. All the other lakes are located in highly urbanized areas but without known industrial PFAS sources. A range of perfluorocarboxylic and perfluorosulfonic acids were analyzed in fillets from seven fish species occupying different habitats. Furthermore, in order to be able to assess wildlife as well as human exposure, different body fractions were analyzed separately in selected cases. Along with a summary of the results (in terms of concentration ranges and descriptive statistics), we will provide insights on the effect of seasons or type of PFAS source, and discuss about the relationships between concentrations in fillets and whole-fish.

An analytical procedure for the determination of anionic and non-ionic surfactants in aqueous samples by HPLC with UV and evaporative detectors is described. The procedure is based on a Liquid-Liquid (LLE) or a Solid Phase Extraction (SPE). A system of serially connected detectors allows to determine the analytes even in complex mixtures.

Il workshop è stato organizzato da IRSA-CNR di Milano e dall'Università di Padova. Obiettivi del convegno: presentare il recente approccio di valutazione del rischio nei sistemi idro-potabili italiani ed illustrare le più recenti tecniche analitiche per lo screening dei contaminanti emergenti

This Technical Guidance Document on Biota Monitoring (the Implementation of EQSbiota) aims to facilitate the implementation of environmental quality standards (EQS) in biota under the Water Framework Directive by addressing in particular the sampling strategies appropriate for monitoring programmes designed to assess compliance with biota EQS. It is Guidance Document No. 32 in the series of guidance documents prepared to support the Common Implementation Strategy (CIS) for the Water Framework Directive. It elaborates extensively on the content of Guidance Document No. 25 on Chemical Monitoring in Sediment and Biota under the Water Framework Directive, and is complemented by Guidance Document No. 33, the Technical Guidance Document on Analytical Methods for Biota Monitoring. Guidance Documents 32 and 33 together address the requirement for guidance on biota monitoring mentioned in Article 3(8a) of Directive 2008/105/EC as amended by Directive 2013/39/EU. The original Directive 2008/105/EC included biota standards for mercury, hexachlorobenzene and hexachlorobutadiene. In Directive 2013/39/EU, biota EQS were introduced for three other existing priority substances (fluoranthene, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and brominated diphenylethers), and set for four new priority substances (dicofol, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid and its derivatives, hexabromocyclododecane, and heptachlor/heptachlor epoxide). This guidance document takes into account the fact that trend monitoring in sediment and/or biota is required for several other priority substances as specified in Article 3(6), and indicates how trend monitoring data can be used to check compliance with biota EQS, but does not elaborate on trend monitoring as such. This document constitutes guidance and Member States are therefore not legally required to follow the recommendations contained in it. Member States are, however, required to use methods compliant with the requirements of the Environmental Quality Standards Directive 2008/105/EC and the Quality Assurance/Quality Control Directive 2009/90/EC.

The assessment of the ecological status of water bodies, as requires by the European Water Framework Directive, can raise a number of problems when applied to temporary streams. These problems are because of the particular physical, chemical and biological conditions resulting from the recurrent cessation of flow or even the complete drying of the stream beds. In such non-permanent water bodies, the reference quality standards developed for permanent streams may only be applicable under certain circumstances or may not be applicable at all. Work conducted within the collaborative EU-funded project Mediterranean Intermittent River ManAGEment (MIRAGE) has addressed most of these difficulties and has used diverse approaches to solve them. These approaches have been brought together in the so-called MIRAGE Toolbox. This toolbox consists of a series of methodologies that are designed to be used in a sequential manner to allow the establishment of the ecological and chemical status of temporary streams and to relate these findings to the hydrological status of the streams. The toolbox is intended to serve the following purposes: (i) the determination of the hydrological regime of the stream; (ii) the design of adequate schedules for biological and chemical sampling according to the aquatic state of the stream; (iii) the fulfillment of criteria for designing reference condition stations; (iv) the analysis of hydrological modifications of the stream regime (with the definition of the hydrological status); and (v) the development of new methods to measure the ecological status (including structural and functional methods) and chemical status when the stream's hydrological conditions are far from those in permanent streams.

Nell'ambito della Strategia di Implementazione Comune (CIS) della Direttiva Quadro Acque (2000/60/EC) l'Italia ha coordinato nell'ultimo triennio, insieme al JRC (Joint Research Center), il gruppo di esperti europeo CMEP (Chemical Monitoring and Emerging Pollutants); tale coordinamento è stato possibile grazie alla continua collaborazione tra Ministero dell'Ambiente e gli Istituti Scientifici Nazionali (ISS, ISPRA e IRSA-CNR). Il gruppo CMEP è composto da rappresentanti della Commissione europea, degli Stati Membri, delle associazioni industriali e ambientali e di convenzioni internazionali ed ha avuto l'obiettivo principale di fornire raccomandazioni e linee guida agli Stati Membri riguardante gli aspetti relativi al monitoraggio delle sostanze chimiche pericolose nelle varie matrici degli ambienti acquatici europei: con la pubblicazione delle Direttive Europee 2008/105/CE e 2009/90/CE sono emersi infatti diversi aspetti critici riguardanti il monitoraggio delle sostanze prioritarie negli ambienti acquatici superficiali: la problematica delle metodiche analitiche, il comparto idoneo che deve essere monitorato, la conformità rispetto agli standard di qualità ambientali, l'uso di tecniche di monitoraggio sostenibili anche da un punto di vista economico, l'applicazione della ISO 17025. Nel 2013 i Direttori delle Acque Europee hanno approvato il nuovo mandato della CIS per il triennio 2013-2015 e per quanto riguarda gli aspetti chimici è stato definito un nuovo gruppo di lavoro denominato "Chemicals" che sarà coordinato dall'Italia, insieme al JRC ed alla Romania. Tale gruppo di lavoro avrà il compito di occuparsi dell'attuazione della nuova Direttiva sulle sostanze prioritarie, la recente Direttiva 2013/39/CE (biblio) che prevede l'inclusione di nuove sostanze prioritarie e pericolose prioritarie con relativi standard di qualità ambientali anche nella matrice biota, la variazione di alcuni standard di qualità ambientali SQA di sostanze prioritarie esistenti, l'obbligo di una lista di controllo europea (watch list) nell'ambito della quale ogni Stato Membro dovrà mettere a disposizione una serie di stazioni di campionamento ed inoltre l'utilizzo di modelli di biodisponibilità per la valutazione degli SQA dei metalli.

Studio del bioaccumulo di composti perfluorurati in organismi acquatici

Biomonitoring is a scientific method for assessing the health status of the environment to natural and synthetic chemicals, based on sampling and analysis of organism's tissues and fluids. This technique relies on the knowledge that chemicals induce markers reflecting this exposure: the marker may be the chemical itself. Different models have been used to study the bioavailability and the bioaccumulation of contaminants: the Biota-Sediment Accumulation Factor (BSAF) predicts that in the organism's tissue the chemical residue can be estimated from the partitioning of the compound between the lipid fraction and the organic carbon in the sediment. In this work the BSAFs of NP and PAH in Tapes philippinarum from the Venice lagoon were calculated, with the aim to verify if the routine biomonitoring studies are reliable in contaminated sites. A field campaign from October 2003 to June 2004 in three sites of the Venice lagoon was realised: Marghera characterised by high contamination levels of industrial origin, Campalto located close to a sewage treatment plant and Poveglia benchmark site, located near one of the lagoon mouth. Results showed that Marghera and Campalto sediments were more contaminated by NPs and PAHs than Poveglia. In each sampling date, the highest NP concentrations (64-247 ng/g d.w.) were measured in Marghera sediments while the lowest one (28-99 ng/g d.w.) in Poveglia. The higher mean concentrations of PAHs were found in Marghera sediments in April and June (516 and 364 ng/g d.w. respectively), while in October and January the higher values were detected in Campalto, with a mean PAH concentration of 821 and 668 ng/g d.w., respectively. Different trends were observed in the contamination of clams: the Poveglia site, in April, showed the highest NP and PAH contamination with values, respectively, of 181 and 1160 ng/g f.w.. From these values, BSAFs were calculated, which resulted always highest at Poveglia for both classes of contaminants. The BSAF trend appears to be inversely related to the contamination level of the sites. Environmental stressors can have an impact on the health status of the clams, altering their normal feeding behavior and, as a probable consequence, reducing the bioaccumulation rates. This could mean that the concentration measured in biota are not necessarily representative of the biota exposure with the risk of losing the direct correlation between sediment and biota concentrations in contaminated sites.

Rapporto finale del 2° anno del progetto PFAS finanziato dal MATTM