Priority substances Classification and monitoring Good chemical status

Priority substances Classification and monitoring

Good chemical status • To achieve good chemical status, values of all priority substances that are emitted to the water body must be below limit values in – water – sediments – biota

EQS • Under development: – EQS for water and sediments – QS for biota

While waiting for EQS: • Norway are using limit values in freshwater and coastal water for – yearly mean value • defined for 33 of 33 – maximum value • defined for 18 of 33

Threshold values in sediments and biota • Norway are using threshold values in sediments in coastal water. – defined for 20 of 33 • In marine biota, values are defined for 8 substances – from 1 to 5 species of marine biota per substance (periwinkle, seaweed, blue mussels, cod liver, muscle of flounder, cod or herring)

Basis for limit values • Current limits are based on risk of ecological effects. • Origin is a 5 -class system established in 1997, revised in 2007. • Threshold for good chemical status is between class II/III.

Classification • Water samples: – Concentration of all substances in all samples in the water body must be below the maximum limit (future EQS-MAC), and – Annual average concentration (arithmetic mean) must be below the mean limit for all substances (future EQS-AA).

Classification • Sediment and biota: – The highest value measured within all monitoring stations in the WB must be below threshold value. – If high values are geographically concentrated to a specific part of the WB, one should consider delineation.

Classification - sediments Database Vannmiljø WB 1 WB 2 2011 2010 2009 St. 2 WB 1 WB 2 WB 3 St. 1 Database Vann-nett St. 3 St. 4

Example of delineation based on sediment values: Note: These are Cu-levels, hence relevant for classification of ecological status. Principle of delineation is the same for pri-subst.

Monitoring of priority substances • Based on knowledge of pressures, monitoring of a WB must include all priority substances that are being emitted. • Monitoring should be performed in water, sediments and biota. Medium Water Sediments Biota Freq. (samples/year) 12 1 1

Detailed recommendations for monitoring in Norway are available at www. vannportalen. no