INTAFERE – Integrated Analysis of Mobile Organic Foreign Substances in Rivers

Worldwide there are more than 100,000 chemicals in constant use. Up to now extensive eco-toxicological analyses are available only for a small fraction of them. This is in particular true for “mobile organic foreign substances” (MOF): compounds that are highly water soluble and only poorly degradable by physico-chemical or biological processes. Entering rivers, the prerequisites for their long-range dispersion and impact on a multitude of aquatic organisms is thus given. In fact there is evidence for a high biological activity even at trace levels for a number of MOF. For aquatic ecosystems and the natural water resources MOF thus constitute an as yet insufficiently explored hazard. MOF are often an important economic factor. Many of them are present in everyday materials and products like plastics and foams, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Via consumption and disposal they enter the waste waters and are meanwhile detected prevalently in rivers in environmentally relevant concentrations. Besides an ecological and economic dimension, the problem therefore also has a social dimension through private consumption. INTAFERE thus investigated the particular hazardous potential of MOF form an integrative perspective. The area under investigation was the Hessisches Ried – a region of major importance for the water supply of the Rhein-Main urban agglomeration.

Sustainable Water Resource Management

The issue MOF in rivers is characterised by substantial knowledge deficits: For most substances only little is known about their impacts on aquatic organisms. The same holds for the outdoor relevant exposition with complex mixtures of MOF. Beyond that, neither is the sediment, which is important for the assessment of the water state, nor the difficulty of the formation and impact of metabolites sufficiently analysed. This partial knowledge about fundamental mechanisms of action leads to uncertainties in the assessment of the hazardous potential of MOF. Facing the multitude of MOF classic assessment procedures on the basis of simple cause effect relations and threshold values for single substances are in conflict with the precautionary and sustainability principle.

Participatorily Negotiated Risk Assessments

The objective of INTAFERE was the development of innovative assessment procedures, which are adapted to the complex problem area. Starting points were the concept of participatorily negotiated risk assessments and the set-up of a knowledge base on the dispersion and environmental impact of selected MOF under outdoor conditions. Based on this a qualitative-quantitative model was being developed as the central analysis and communication tool of INTAFERE. It integrates the different disciplinary and sectoral knowledge as well as the perspectives of the stakeholders affected. The model was used to create scenarios for the overall exposure of the rivers of the Hessisches Ried with MOF. The inclusion of stakeholders in the research process opens up the possibility to achieve socially robust risk assessments for MOF. The research issues envisaged in INTAFERE are considered as closely entangled with the requirements for the implementation of the European Water Framework directive.

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