In the EU the "Proposed EU minimum quality requirements for water reuse in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge" are under discussion and the scientific advice by SCHEER (Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks) on JRC related document was published last July 10, 2017 (please see attached document or link to EC web-page http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/updates)
In its advice SCHEER suggests to expand JRC respective tables by including contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and antibiotic resistance (AR) indicator. What is your opinion, should "EU minimum quality requirements for water reuse in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge" include CECs and AR?
http://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/updates
Regarding typical chemical fate and transport: 1) degradation half-lives in soil are typically higher compared to other compartments and some of the CECs would partition favorably to soil, rendering it a significant source of delayed "future" contamination. 2) Persistent and mobile chemicals are known to pose a threat to water quality (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b03338) in general. 3) It is known that many of the CECs are persistent and bioaccumulative chemicals that biomagnify along the food web. Reducing human exposure to CECs is also passing through reducing food-borne contamination which has been identified as a significant exposure pathway (https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/EHP168/). Contaminated water used for agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge can clearly be a source of food-borne contamination for several chemicals.
Finally, most of the identified planetary boundaries (http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/1259855 and http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/full/461472a.html) are controlled by chemical agents (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es402501c and http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es501893m). This means that among the CECs there might be chemicals that cause, amplify or accelerate i) an unknown disruptive effect on a vital Earth system process and/or ii) a disruptive effect that is not discovered until it is a problem of planetary scale.
In this context, antibiotic resistant bacteria developed as a result of chemical exposure is a case of chemical-induced effect that initially may have a local or regional impact but could become a problem of planetary scale (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es501893m).
In short, the EU minimum quality requirements for water reuse in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge should include CECs and AR indicators.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.6b03338
http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/1259855
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es402501c
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es501893m
https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/EHP168/
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v461/n7263/full/461472a.html
Please see this recently published report (June 2017) on pollution in Europe.
https://ec.europa.eu/health/sites/health/files/scientific_committees/scheer/docs/scheer_o_010.pdf
Regards. --- Hilmi S. Salem (Prof. Dr.)
...please be aware that the link you attached to your comment is the scientific advice from SCHEER that I quoted and attached above, not the report you talk about
I'd like to update you about the "fate" of "Proposed EU minimum quality requirements for water reuse in agricultural irrigation and aquifer recharge" documet released by JRC.
The scientific advice by SCHEER (Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks) on this document was summarized and published in "Current Opinion in Environmental Science & Health" (Elsevier) journal and it can be downloaded for free from this link https://authors.elsevier.com/a/1WPEG8nIePIf1o for the next 50 days (till March 08, 2018). No sign up, registration or fees are required – you can simply click and read.
In the meantime, JRC finalized a revised version of the above quoted report which can be download from this link: https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/eur-scientific-and-technical-research-reports/minimum-quality-requirements-water-reuse-agricultural-irrigation-and-aquifer-recharge ... anydody can draw its own "conclusions" ... enjoy the reading.
Comments are welcome.
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