Definition and applications of a versatile chemical pollution footprint methodology.

Because of the great variety in behavior and modes of action of chemicals, impact assessment of multiple substances is complex, as is the communication of its results. Given calls for cumulative impact assessments, we developed a methodology that is aimed at expressing the expected cumulative impacts of mixtures of chemicals on aquatic ecosystems for a region and subsequently allows to present these results as a chemical pollution footprint, in short: a chemical footprint. Setting and using a boundary for chemical pollution is part of the methodology. Two case studies were executed to test and illustrate the methodology. The first case illustrates that the production and use of organic substances in Europe, judged with the European water volume, stays within the currently set policy boundaries for chemical pollution. The second case shows that the use of pesticides in Northwestern Europe, judged with the regional water volume, has exceeded the set boundaries, while showing a declining trend over time. The impact of mixtures of substances in the environment could be expressed as a chemical footprint, and the relative contribution of substances to that footprint could be evaluated. These features are a novel type of information to support risk management, by helping prioritization of management among chemicals and environmental compartments.

[1]  S. Smetanová,et al.  Do predictions from Species Sensitivity Distributions match with field data? , 2014, Environmental pollution.

[2]  Arjen Ysbert Hoekstra,et al.  Water Footprint Manual : State of the Art 2009 , 2009 .

[3]  Erle C. Ellis,et al.  Does the terrestrial biosphere have planetary tipping points? , 2013, Trends in ecology & evolution.

[4]  Christoph Böhringer,et al.  Measuring the Immeasurable: A Survey of Sustainability Indices , 2007 .

[5]  Jiří Jaromír Klemeš,et al.  A Review of Footprint analysis tools for monitoring impacts on sustainability , 2012 .

[6]  F. Chapin,et al.  Planetary boundaries: Exploring the safe operating space for humanity , 2009 .

[7]  Mark A J Huijbregts,et al.  Estimating the impact of high-production-volume chemicals on remote ecosystems by toxic pressure calculation. , 2006, Environmental science & technology.

[8]  S. Carpenter,et al.  Early-warning signals for critical transitions , 2009, Nature.

[9]  Dick de Zwart,et al.  Ecological Effects of Pesticide Use in The Netherlands: Modeled and Observed Effects in the Field Ditch , 2005, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[10]  S. Giove,et al.  A risk-based methodology for ranking environmental chemical stressors at the regional scale. , 2014, Environment international.

[11]  D. de Zwart,et al.  Predicted effects of toxicant mixtures are confirmed by changes in fish species assemblages in Ohio, USA, rivers , 2006, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[12]  Dick de Zwart,et al.  Ranking of agricultural pesticides in the rhine‐meuse‐scheldt basin based on toxic pressure in marine ecosystems , 2008, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[13]  R. Naiman,et al.  Freshwater biodiversity: importance, threats, status and conservation challenges , 2006, Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

[14]  Hiederer Roland,et al.  EFSA Spatial Data Version 1.1: Data Properties and Processing , 2012 .

[15]  Nathan Fiala,et al.  Measuring sustainability: Why the ecological footprint is bad economics and bad environmental science , 2008 .

[16]  Camilla Sandström,et al.  Research, part of a Special Feature on Understanding Adaptive Capacity in Forest Governance Local Consequences of Applying International Norms: Differences in the Application of Forest Certification in Northern Sweden, Northern Finland, and Northwest Russia , 2009 .

[17]  David Coventry,et al.  Sustainable Development Strategies—A Resource Book , 2003 .

[18]  Zijian Wang,et al.  Review of Screening Systems for Prioritizing Chemical Substances , 2013 .

[19]  Traas Tp,et al.  Identifying potential POP and PBT substances : Development of a new Persistence/Bioaccumulation-score , 2011 .

[20]  Zachary A. Collier,et al.  A Decision Analytic Approach to Exposure-Based Chemical Prioritization , 2013, PloS one.

[21]  Reinout Heijungs,et al.  Theoretical exploration for the combination of the ecological, energy, carbon, and water footprints: Overview of a footprint family , 2014 .

[22]  J Struijs,et al.  Toxic pressure in the Dutch delta measured with bioassays : Trends over the years 2000 - 2009 , 2010 .

[23]  Konrad Hungerbühler,et al.  The State of Multimedia Mass-Balance Modeling in Environmental Science and Decision-Making , 2010 .

[24]  Alistair B.A. Boxall,et al.  Hazardous substances in Europe's fresh and marine waters : An overview , 2011 .

[25]  Michael S. McLachlan,et al.  Prioritizing Chemicals and Data Requirements for Screening-Level Exposure and Risk Assessment , 2012, Environmental health perspectives.

[26]  Albert Adriaanse,et al.  Environmental policy performance indicators : a study on the development of indicators for environmental policy in the Netherlands , 1993 .

[27]  D. de Zwart,et al.  Predictive models attribute effects on fish assemblages to toxicity and habitat alteration. , 2006, Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

[28]  G. R. de Snoo,et al.  Bestrijdingsmiddelen en waterkwaliteit , 2012 .

[29]  Diana H. Wall,et al.  Distributional (In)Congruence of Biodiversity-Ecosystem Functioning , 2012 .

[30]  Julie Panko,et al.  Incorporating chemical footprint reporting into social responsibility reporting , 2012, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[31]  M. Huijbregts,et al.  New method for calculating comparative toxicity potential of cationic metals in freshwater: application to copper, nickel, and zinc. , 2010, Environmental science & technology.

[32]  M. Nalls,et al.  Genome-Wide Association Study of Retinopathy in Individuals without Diabetes , 2013, PloS one.

[33]  Konrad Hungerbühler,et al.  Good modeling practice guidelines for applying multimedia models in chemical assessments , 2012, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[34]  David M. Reif,et al.  High-throughput models for exposure-based chemical prioritization in the ExpoCast project. , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[35]  T. Mattila,et al.  Input-output analysis of the networks of production, consumption and environmental destruction in Finland , 2013 .

[36]  M. Hauschild,et al.  Beyond safe operating space: finding chemical footprinting feasible. , 2014, Environmental science & technology.

[37]  Konrad Hungerbühler,et al.  Screening for PBT chemicals among the "existing" and "new" chemicals of the EU. , 2012, Environmental science & technology.

[38]  J. Bergh,et al.  Ecological Footprint Policy? Land Use as an Environmental Indicator , 2014 .

[39]  William E. Rees,et al.  Ecological footprints and appropriated carrying capacity: what urban economics leaves out , 1992 .

[40]  W. Boedeker,et al.  Assessment of the Combined Effects of Substances: The Relationship between Concentration Addition and Independent Action , 1995 .

[41]  Michel Loreau,et al.  Human impacts on minimum subsets of species critical for maintaining ecosystem structure , 2013 .

[42]  L. V. Beek,et al.  Water balance of global aquifers revealed by groundwater footprint , 2012, Nature.

[43]  M R Ashmore,et al.  Plant species sensitivity distributions for ozone exposure. , 2013, Environmental pollution.

[44]  Serenella Sala,et al.  Chemical footprint: A methodological framework for bridging life cycle assessment and planetary boundaries for chemical pollution , 2013, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[45]  Mark A. J. Huijbregts,et al.  Uncertainty in msPAF-Based Ecotoxicological Effect Factors for Freshwater Ecosystems in Life Cycle Impact Assessment , 2007, Integrated environmental assessment and management.

[46]  Magnus Breitholtz,et al.  Confronting unknown planetary boundary threats from chemical pollution. , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[47]  F. Chapin,et al.  A safe operating space for humanity , 2009, Nature.

[48]  D. de Zwart,et al.  Complex mixture toxicity for single and multiple species: Proposed methodologies , 2005, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[49]  Dick de Zwart,et al.  Ecological Effects of Pesticide Use in The Netherlands: Modeled and Observed Effects in the Field Ditch , 2005 .

[50]  D. de Zwart,et al.  Predicted mixture toxic pressure relates to observed fraction of benthic macrofauna species impacted by contaminant mixtures , 2012, Environmental toxicology and chemistry.

[51]  E. L. Wipfler,et al.  Dutch Environmental Risk indicator for plant protection products. Appendices NMI 3 , 2012 .

[52]  G. Suter,et al.  Species Sensitivity Distributions in Ecotoxicology , 2001 .