ECHIDNA (Emerging CHemIcals Database for National Awareness): a framework to prioritise contaminants of emerging concern in water

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Neale, Peta Anne
Melvin, Steven D
Hancock, Marty
Leusch, Frederic DL
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2023
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Abstract

The widespread presence of contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) in surface waters, treated wastewater and drinking water is an ongoing issue for the water industry. The absence of regulatory guidance and limited occurrence, toxicity and removal data are defining criteria of CEC and make it difficult to prioritise which CEC pose the greatest risk. The online Emerging CHemIcals Database for National Awareness (ECHIDNA) aims to classify and prioritise CEC based on their potential risk, with the information presented in an easily accessible and intuitive manner. A candidate list of almost 1,800 potential CEC, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals and industrial compounds, was compiled using both Australian and international resources. These were ranked based on in silico assessment of their persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) properties, as well as potential chronic toxicity hazard, yielding 247 CEC for further prioritisation. Risk Quotients (RQ) identified between 5 and 87 CEC posing a risk to human and ecosystem health, respectively, across drinking water, surface water, treated wastewater and raw wastewater. While the ability of the water industry to effectively prioritise CEC is limited by candidate identification and data availability, ECHIDNA can provide valuable information for better decision-making surrounding CEC management.

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Journal of Water and Health

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21

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9

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© 2023 The Authors. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits copying and redistribution for non-commercial purposes with no derivatives, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Water treatment processes

Environmental assessment and monitoring

Pollution and contamination

Science & Technology

Life Sciences & Biomedicine

Physical Sciences

Environmental Sciences

Public, Environmental & Occupational Health

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Neale, PA; Melvin, SD; Hancock, M; Leusch, FDL, ECHIDNA (Emerging CHemIcals Database for National Awareness): a framework to prioritise contaminants of emerging concern in water, Journal of Water and Health, 2023, 21 (9), pp. 1357-1368

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