Fuerhacker Maria
Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Water Pollution Control, University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2009 Aug;16 Suppl 1:S92-7. doi: 10.1007/s11356-009-0126-4. Epub 2009 Apr 1.
BACKGROUND, AIM AND SCOPE: Water is a renewable resource and acceptable quality is important for human health, ecological and economic reasons, but human activity can cause great damage to the natural aquatic environment. Managing the water cycle in a sustainable way is the key to protect natural resources and human health. On a global level, the microbiological contamination of water sources is a major problem in connection with poverty and the United Nations Millennium Development Declaration is an important initiative to handle this problem. In terms of environmental health, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) circulate globally; as they travel long distances, they are found in remote areas far from their original source of application and can cause damage wherever they move to. On a global scale, United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) issued the Stockholm Convention to reduce POPs; in the European Union (EU), one intention of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) is to reach the good chemical status of waters; beside these regulations, there are other directives in support of these goals. The aim of this paper is to discuss whether the Stockholm Convention and the WFD allows meeting the targets of protection of human and environmental health, which are established in the different directives and how could we approach the targets.
The aims and scopes of different directives are compiled and compared with the actual quality of water, different approaches of standard settings are compared and potential treatment options are discussed.
Under the Stockholm Convention on POPs, which came into force in May 2004, governments are required to develop a National Implementation Plan (NIP) setting out how they will address their obligations under the convention and how they will take measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment by the use of best available techniques (BAT) and application of best environmental practices (BEP). On a European level, the WFD has been in place as the main European legislation to protect our water resources and the water environment of Europe since 2000. It requires managing river basins so that the quality and quantity of water does not affect the ecological services of any specific water body. Nevertheless, the goals of other directives as for drinking water, bathing water and urban wastewater treatment are not yet harmonised mainly concerning microbiological, priority substances and priority hazardous substances (PS/PHS) contamination. Following the detection of substances, a risk assessment with sound effect data needs to be performed also for regulatory decisions and priorisation of measures to remove emerging contaminants. Beside personal care products and industrial contaminants, faecal pollution of recreational waters is one of the major hazards facing users, although microbial contamination from other sources as well as chemical and physical aspects also affects the suitability of water for recreation. As in arid and semiarid areas, wastewater is considered for irrigation with regulatory needs of hygienic and chemical parameters-health-based targets-to avoid the contamination of crops and food. In surface waters, currently, the relationships between physical and chemical properties and the biological state of surface waters were quite well-understood to enable the management of catchments and rivers to achieve ecological quality.
Nevertheless, more work is needed to find out the actual impact of the regulations for single chemicals and complex mixtures, in terms of environmental quality standards to achieve a 'good chemical status', on the good biological status. In a next step after the adoption of the list of PS/PHS substances, which also includes the POPs, the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) needs to be adjusted and existing or new treatment options (BATs) should comply with the new requirements of the different directives.
Relevant substances threaten human health and the environment by new effects such as CMR, endocrine-disrupting effects or neurotoxicity which are not yet considered in an adequate way by assessment methods and regulatory standards and the application of abatement technologies. The Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals helps to control the sources, but WFD, the Stockholm Convention and UWWTD need to be harmonised and a rolling revision process should react on new developments. Finally, to answer the question if the Stockholm Convention and the WFD (2000/60/EC) could reach the target-I would state that they provide a very valuable frame to approach the targets, but there is still way to go to reach them on an EU level and on a global scale, also under the aspects of the Stockholm Convention and the Millennium Development Goals.
The compilation of the goals of different regulations and combined actions will save a lot of administrative efforts and money.
背景、目的与范围：水是一种可再生资源，出于对人类健康、生态和经济等方面的考虑，可接受的水质至关重要，但人类活动会对天然水生环境造成巨大破坏。以可持续方式管理水循环是保护自然资源和人类健康的关键。在全球层面，水源的微生物污染是与贫困相关的一个主要问题，联合国千年发展宣言是解决这一问题的一项重要举措。在环境卫生方面，持久性有机污染物（POPs）在全球范围内循环；由于它们远距离迁移，在远离其最初应用源的偏远地区也能被发现，且无论迁移到何处都可能造成损害。在全球范围内，联合国环境规划署（UNEP）发布了《斯德哥尔摩公约》以减少POPs；在欧盟（EU），《水框架指令》（WFD）的一个目标是实现水体的良好化学状态；除了这些法规外，还有其他指令支持这些目标。本文旨在讨论《斯德哥尔摩公约》和《水框架指令》是否能够实现不同指令中确立的保护人类和环境健康的目标，以及我们应如何实现这些目标。
汇编不同指令的目标和范围，并与实际水质进行比较，比较标准设定的不同方法，并讨论潜在的处理方案。
2004年5月生效的《关于持久性有机污染物的斯德哥尔摩公约》要求各国政府制定一份国家实施计划（NIP），阐明它们将如何履行公约规定的义务，以及如何通过采用最佳可得技术（BAT）和应用最佳环境实践（BEP）来采取措施消除或减少POPs向环境中的排放。在欧洲层面，自2000年以来，《水框架指令》一直是保护欧洲水资源和水环境的主要欧洲立法。它要求对流域进行管理，以使水的质量和数量不影响任何特定水体的生态服务。然而，关于饮用水、沐浴水和城市污水处理的其他指令的目标在微生物、优先物质和优先有害物质（PS/PHS）污染方面尚未协调一致。在检测到物质后，还需要根据可靠的效应数据进行风险评估，以便做出监管决策并确定去除新兴污染物措施的优先级。除了个人护理产品和工业污染物外，娱乐用水的粪便污染是使用者面临的主要危害之一，尽管来自其他来源的微生物污染以及化学和物理方面也会影响水用于娱乐的适宜性。在干旱和半干旱地区，考虑到卫生和化学参数（基于健康的目标）的监管需求，废水被用于灌溉以避免作物和食品受到污染。在地表水方面，目前，人们对地表水的物理和化学性质与生物状态之间的关系有了相当深入的了解，以便对集水区和河流进行管理以实现生态质量。
然而，仍需要开展更多工作，以弄清楚就实现“良好化学状态”的环境质量标准而言，针对单一化学品和复杂混合物的法规对良好生物状态的实际影响。在通过包括POPs在内的PS/PHS物质清单后的下一步，需要调整《城市污水处理指令》（UWWTD）以及现有的或新的处理方案（BATs）应符合不同指令的新要求。
相关物质通过如致癌、致突变、致畸（CMR）、内分泌干扰效应或神经毒性等新效应威胁人类健康和环境，而评估方法、监管标准以及减排技术的应用尚未充分考虑这些效应。《化学品注册、评估、授权和限制》有助于控制源头，但《水框架指令》、《斯德哥尔摩公约》和《城市污水处理指令》需要协调一致，并且滚动修订过程应应对新的发展情况。最后，要回答《斯德哥尔摩公约》和《水框架指令》（2000/60/EC）是否能够实现目标这一问题，我要说它们为实现这些目标提供了一个非常有价值的框架，但在欧盟层面和全球范围内，在《斯德哥尔摩公约》和千年发展目标的背景下，仍有很长的路要走。
汇编不同法规的目标并采取联合行动将节省大量行政工作和资金。
