Evaluation of Bioassays and Wastewater Quality ... - Oekotoxzentrum

Götz et al. (2010) have evaluated effects on the concentrations of selected micropollutants in
Swiss rivers due to wastewater effluents. The water quality regarding those substances was
assessed using the predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) from the exposure model of
(Ort et al., 2007) assuming low flow conditions (Q347) and compared with the respective AA-EQS
(Figure 10).
Based on this assessment scheme a moderate to poor water quality regarding three of the six
selected micropollutants (diclofenac, carbamazepin and clarithromycin) was detected in 14 % of
the assessed 543 water courses.
Figure 10: Comparison of predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) with annual average EQS of
543 river courses (%) (from (Götz et al., 2010).
For diclofenac, carbamazepin and clarithromycin risk quotients were derived using the quality
criteria as well as the 90 th percentile of the measured concentrations (see chapter 5.1).
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