Effect-based monitoring in Water Safety Planning

The Global Water Research Coalition (GWRC) initiated this project to demonstrate effect-based monitoring tools can be applied in practical settings. The project aimed to develop user guidance documents for operators and/or local authorities, collect experiences with the use of effect-based monitoring tools from a selection of case studies, and provide documentation on effect-based monitoring in water safety planning to policy-makers. Overall, the project’s goal was a more efficient implementation of bioanalytical tools in the Water Safety Plans (WSPs) across the global water sector.

Effect-based monitoring

Due to the large number of organic micropollutants in the environment, it is no longer possible to evaluate the removal of all individual organic micropollutants. Removal rates are important in drinking water production and wastewater treatment plants. Next, assessment is needed to evaluate which mixtures of micropollutants may have adverse health effects. This cannot be based only on chemical analysis, as this depends on the availability of information on mechanisms of toxicity of the substances present.

Hence, a combination of substance-based monitoring with so-called ‘effect-based monitoring tools’ provides additional information. This approach can be applied from resource to tap and through the whole water sector (including sewage treatment plants, conventional and alternative water treatment schemes and water reuse schemes.

Regulations and water safety planning

There are strong incentives from governments and institutions such as WHO and the EU to review Water Quality Management Frameworks in various policy areas, and to embed WHO Water Safety Plans. In this project, effect-based monitoring tools were applied in case studies in addition to current water monitoring. In this way, smart combinations of chemical and biological analyses lead to reduced uncertainty in safety assessments.

GWRC water experts discussed the implementation of integrative and cost-effective monitoring programs to detect emerging water quality issues that are not adequately covered by existing guidelines and regulations to ensure drinking water consumer’s exposure safety.

Objectives

Effect-based monitoring in water safety planning can be applied to different parts of the water sector: from source to tap, but also for example in wastewater treatment plants, and in water reuse schemes. By promoting the interaction of operators and policy-makers from all over the world, this project also aimed to increase knowledge and stimulate the exchange of experiences.

This project aimed to demonstrate an innovative water quality and safety assessment framework in a practical setting, and to support water experts in the implementation of effect-based monitoring in integrative and cost-effective monitoring programmes to detect emerging water quality issues. User guidance was provided to operators and/or local authorities on the selection of bioassays, the interpretation of bioassay data, and the establishment of decision-making support for the operating practices on the upgrading/improvement of the supply chain. Furthermore, a selection of case studies were used to demonstrate the implementation of a combination of tools to assess the effectiveness of treatment stages, and the use of effect-based monitoring in Water Safety Plans. Ultimately, this will lead towards a more efficient implementation of bioanalytical tools in the Water Safety Plans across the global water sector.

Factsheets

• Factsheet for legislators: Effect-Based Monitoring in Water Safety Planning
• Factsheet for operators: Effect-Based Monitoring in Water Safety Planning
• Factsheet: Use of effect-based monitoring for the assessment of risks of low-level mixtures of chemical in water on man and the environment  
• Factsheet: Perception and barriers to implementation
• Factsheet: Applicability of Effect-Based Methods in Sanitation Safety Planning and Water Reuse

Selected reports and publications

• Application of Effect-Based Methods to Water Quality Monitoring: Answering Frequently Asked Questions by Water Quality Managers, Regulators, and Policy Makers
• Survey on effect-based monitoring
• Medium to high throughput bioanalytical tools and decision-making tool for selection of bioassays
• Sampling strategies and sample pre-treatment options and decision-making tool for selection of sampling methods
• Effect-based trigger values for different water quality classes considering hazards for human and the environment health
• How effective are water treatment processes in removing toxic effects of micropollutants? A literature review of effect-based monitoring data
• Development of protocols and user guides, and development of a decision-making tool for evaluation, selection and harmonization of candidate in vitro bioassays and implementation in water-related policies