Details zur Publikation

Kategorie Textpublikation
Referenztyp Berichte
URL http://icm.eionet.europa.eu/ETC_Reports/EmissionsOfPollutantsToEuropeanWaters_SourcesPathwaysAndTrends
Titel (primär) Emissions of pollutants to Europe’s waters - sources, pathways and trends
Autor van den Roovaart, J.; van Duijnhoven, N.; Fribourg-Blanc, B.; Siauve, S.; Prchalova, H.
Herausgeber Künitzer, A.
Quelle ETC/ICM Technical Report
Erscheinungsjahr 2017
Department ASAM
Band/Volume 3/2017
Seite bis 94
Sprache englisch
UFZ Querschnittsthemen RU2;
Abstract This report provides an overview of the emissions to water at a European level for the major groups of pollutants (nutrients, organic matter, and priority substances) and the key emission sources: point sources such as urban waste water treatment plants (UWWTPs) and industry, and diffuse sources like agriculture, atmospheric deposition and traffic. The report gives both an overview at the European level and at the same time provides relevant spatial and temporal information on where emission sources are primarily located and how emission loads have developed in the last years. The analysis includes data from reporting of Member States on relevant EU legislation, e.g. in particular the relevant information contained in the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR), the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (UWWTD) and other data flows such as WISE- State of the Environment (SoE).

The main conclusion of the assessment is that comparison of national inventories on releases to water is hampered by differences in definitions (sources, pathways), methods, reporting timeframes, formats and thresholds. Therefore it is complicated and time consuming for countries to submit the right information requested in an international inventory. This can result in reports which are incomplete, inconsistent and incomparable on an EU scale.

For a set of 8 most commonly-reported pollutants, the present E-PRTR releases seem only to represent a limited part of the total releases to water. An estimate of the potentially missing releases has been made and, although there is uncertainty related to these estimates, there are strong indications that available reporting gives an incomplete view of the total releases to surface water.

Actions that could be undertaken to improve the quality of the emissions to water data over the short time are: communicating missing UWWTPs with the countries; and encouraging the use of emission factors in the calculation of releases to water from UWWTPs for non-monitored pollutants. Over the mid-term, it is suggested to arrange detailed studies to specific activities and add releases of diffuse sources to E-PRTR. This should be combined with the start of a process of data and knowledge exchange on diffuse sources data and harmonization of quantification methods. Over the long term, is it suggested to harmonize EU emission reporting, improve the transparency, consistency and completeness of the emission inventories and reduce the reporting burden on the countries at the same time by combining of related reporting in UWWTD, WFD and E-PRTR and integration with the voluntary State of the Environment (SoE) reporting.
dauerhafte UFZ-Verlinkung https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=19885
van den Roovaart, J., van Duijnhoven, N., Fribourg-Blanc, B., Siauve, S., Prchalova, H. (2017):
Emissions of pollutants to Europe’s waters - sources, pathways and trends
In: Künitzer, A. (ed.)
ETC/ICM Technical Report 3/2017
European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH – UFZ, Magdeburg, 94 pp.