Ireland and the WFD

1. Ireland and the WFD The Dangerous Substances Surveillance Monitoring Programme Ciaran O’Donnell Environmental Protection Agency

2. Contents • Planned approach • Selection of Relevant Pollutants • Screening survey • Preliminary results • Monitoring plan • EQS • Future challenges

3. Relevant Polllutants - Background • Ireland largely enjoys relative clean waters • Due, at least in part, to its less industrialised history • Transboundary inputs are relatively insignificant • The usage of chemicals throughout all sectors of society has become increasingly widespread during the past century

4. River Basin Districts 4 Internal RBDs South-Eastern South-Western Western Eastern 3 Cross-border RBDs North-Western Neagh-Bann Shannon 1 in RBD Northern Ireland North-Eastern

5. Water Framework Directive • Surveillance Monitoring Programme: • Priority list pollutants which are discharged….. • Annex X • Monthly sampling • Other Pollutants discharged in significant quantities…… • Annex VIII: 1-10 • 3-monthly sampling

6. Monitoring Plan • Select Relevant Pollutants • Choose surveillance monitoring programme sites • Commence Monitoring programme 2007 • Annex IX and X • Relevant pollutant list

7. Relevant Pollutant Selection 1.Top-down Approach Consider all substances potentially introduced to the environment in Ireland Prioritise based on Knowledge of usage Available monitoring data 2. Bottom-up Approach Consider known water quality impacts Little information available on organics effects 3. Check selected list by a screening survey

8. Candidate list of relevant pollutants Selection of compounds: WFD Annex VIII – “universe of chemicals” as starting point WFD Annex X and Annex IX compounds included automatically Pollutant lists considered: 76/464/EC List II candidate substances UNEP POPs OSPAR EPER Register Dangerous Substances tracking project Locally Relevant Pesticides Aquatic environment control products Endocrine disrupting products Total number of substances/groups 161

9. Screening Programme • Wide range of Parameters to be measured • 12 Month programme 41 Priority Action Substances 161 Relevant Pollutants 227 parameters reported (including sums) • Review Relevant Pollutants list after six months • Continue with shortened list for remaining six months • Compare results with working EQS values

10. Screening Programme Sites • Monitoring programme - 23 sites 17 Surface water sites 4 Groundwater sites 1 site at WWTP - Ringsend, Dublin 1 site at Landfill - Ballyeally, Dublin • Water samples taken monthly at each site. • One sediment and one biota sample taken at the 17 surface water sites

11. Screening Programme Assessment Because EQS are not finalised at this stage Results were compared with Limit of Detection (LOD) First phase – 43 parameters dropped after 6 months Not found Not appropriate for water column work Detection limit too high to be useful (LOD>>EQS) Continued with 184+ 3 new pesticides for 6 months

12. Results of Screening Programme - Provisional Surface Waters (17 sites) Test substance for relevance: Means compiled for each site Test for any mean > LOD 56 compounds found Metals 18 VOC 13 Organics 8 Pesticides 13 PAH 2 Inorganic 2

13. Results of Screening Survey - Provisional Ground Waters (4 sites) Test substance for relevance: Means compiled for each site Test for any mean > LOD 31 compounds found Inorganic 2 Metals 13 Organics 7 Pesticides 4 PAH 1 VOC 4

14. Results of Screening Survey - Provisional Landfill Leachate (1 site) Test substance for relevance: Means compiled for each site Test for any mean > LOD 109 compounds found Inorganic 3 Metals 19 Organics 26 Pesticides 34 PAH 7 VOC 20

15. Results of Screening Survey - Provisional Treated Wastewater (1 site) Test substance for relevance: Means compiled for each site Test for any mean > LOD 54 compounds found Inorganic 2 Metals 13 Organics 14 Pesticides 16 PAH 3 VOC 6

16. Results Summary - Provisional Priority Pollutants Relevant Pollutants Surface Waters (56) 18 38 Groundwater (31) 7 24 Leachate (109) 27 82 WWTP (54) 14 40 Total of targets found 31 89

17. Monitoring Targets (Provisional) Surveillance Programme Targets: Priority Pollutants EQS Directive 41 Relevant Pollutants Metals 17 VOC 16 Pesticides 27 Other Organics 26 Inorganic ions 3 Total targets 130

18. Monitoring Programme Surveillance Programme sites: Water type Monitoring points Rivers 189 Lakes 73 Transitional and Coastal 37 Total 299

19. Environmental Quality Standards Priority Substances: Commission Proposal July 2006 Annex I Part A: 33 parameters Part B: 8 parameters Relevant Pollutants: No final decision Working group on EQS Adopt EQS used in screening work? Look for common applications in other MS

20. Future Challenges Analytical resources Cost Set-up time Development of EQS for Relevant Pollutant list EQS levels will define the monitoring activity Some toxicologically derived EQS unattainable by existing monitoring techniques Some discussion on equipment level is desirable to ensure proper investment of resources eg Metals - ICPMS Organics?

21. End Thank You for Listening