Abstract

Background

The European Water Framework Directive foresees the establishment of emission inventories for micropollutants (MP) to facilitate an evidence-based development of mitigation measures. Regionalized pathway analysis constitutes a moderately data-intensive approach to quantify the contribution of different pathways to the total pollution of surface waters. So far, only few European member states have created an inventory that includes diffuse pathways. The fundamental basis to enable it is an accessible, well-structured and harmonized database with data on the concentration of MPs in multiple compartments, such as soils, groundwater, atmospheric deposition and urban systems. Combined with the water and suspended substance balance in river basins, such data enables the estimation of emission loads via specific pathways. In the Danube River Basin, but in general in Europe, a public data management platform with such scope and criteria is still lacking.

Results

We collected and harmonized MP measurements across multiple compartments and countries together with key metadata, harmonized and combined them into a new database. The resulting tool, available for download, facilitates the assessment of current data availability, in terms of quantity and quality. For example, while the majority of available data stems from groundwater and surface water, other highly relevant compartments are scarcely represented. By examining differences in MP concentration level across compartments, the database can lead to understand the relevance of specific emission pathways and thus to prioritize data-retrieval and calculation efforts in modelling applications. Selected examples show how to exploit the metadata associated to the measurements to extrapolate the results to regions not covered by specific monitoring programmes. For example, PFAS concentrations in treated wastewater show significant dependence on the design capacity of the treatment plant.

Conclusions

This study showcases how such database can support the setup of emission inventories, guide data providers and national authorities in prioritizing the allocation of resources for new surveys and in optimizing their national data collection and management systems. The process tested showed a great need for enhanced data literacy across countries and institutions to increase data availability and quality to secure the exploitation of the full information potential generated via monitoring programmes.

中文翻译：

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统一的多瑙河流域多室浓度数据库，支持地表水微污染物排放清单

摘要

背景

欧洲水框架指令预计将建立微污染物（MP）排放清单，以促进基于证据的缓解措施的制定。区域化路径分析构成了一种数据适度密集的方法，用于量化不同路径对地表水总污染的贡献。到目前为止，只有少数欧洲成员国创建了包含分散途径的清单。实现这一目标的基本基础是一个可访问、结构良好且统一的数据库，其中包含多个分区（例如土壤、地下水、大气沉降和城市系统）中 MP 浓度的数据。结合流域的水和悬浮物平衡，这些数据可以通过特定途径估算排放负荷。在多瑙河流域，但在整个欧洲，仍然缺乏具有如此范围和标准的公共数据管理平台。

结果

我们收集并协调了多个部门和国家的 MP 测量值以及关键元数据，将它们协调并合并到一个新的数据库中。由此产生的工具可供下载，有助于评估当前数据可用性的数量和质量。例如，虽然大多数可用数据来自地下水和地表水，但其他高度相关的部分却很少得到体现。通过检查各个隔间 MP 浓度水平的差异，数据库可以了解特定排放途径的相关性，从而在建模应用中优先考虑数据检索和计算工作。选定的示例展示了如何利用与测量相关的元数据将结果推断到特定监测计划未覆盖的区域。例如，处理后废水中的 PFAS 浓度显着依赖于处理厂的设计能力。

结论

本研究展示了此类数据库如何支持排放清单的建立，指导数据提供者和国家当局优先分配新调查的资源以及优化其国家数据收集和管理系统。测试的过程表明，各国和各机构迫切需要提高数据素养，以提高数据可用性和质量，以确保充分利用监测计划产生的信息潜力。