According to the WFD, water bodies must be managed in such a way that a deterioration of their ecological and chemical status is prevented and a good ecological and chemical status is maintained or achieved. The chemical status of a water body is assessed by means of chemical analytical testing and the monitoring of environmental quality standards (EQS), among other things.
Environmental quality standards (EQS) specify concentrations that must not be exceeded for certain pollutants or a specific group of pollutants in water, sediments, or biota for reasons of health and environmental protection. They are therefore threshold values that must not be exceeded in order to prevent negative effects on the chemical and/or ecological status of a waterbody.
Under EC Directive 2008/105/EC, environmental quality standards (EQS) were established for certain substances or groups of substances in surface waters that were classified as priority pollutants due to the significant risk they pose in the aquatic environment.
Due to the ever increasing use of pharmaceuticals in human and veterinary medicine, pharmaceutical contamination of aquatic ecosystems is considered an emerging problem (Hejna et al., 2022; Rzymski et al., 2017). Back in 2006, the annual per capita consumption of pharmaceuticals has been estimated to be 15 g on average worldwide and as high as […]