title: Toxicological relevance of emerging contaminants for drinking water quality.
abstract: The detection of many new compounds in surface water, groundwater and drinking water raises considerable public concern, especially when human health based guideline values are not available it is questioned if detected concentrations affect human health. In an attempt to address this question, we derived provisional drinking water guideline values for a selection of 50 emerging contaminants relevant for drinking water and the water cycle. For only 10 contaminants, statutory guideline values were available. Provisional drinking water guideline values were based upon toxicological literature data. The maximum concentration levels reported in surface waters, groundwater and/or drinking water were compared to the (provisional) guideline values of the contaminants thus obtained, and expressed as Benchmark Quotient (BQ) values. We focused on occurrence data in the downstream parts of the Rhine and Meuse river basins. The results show that for the majority of compounds a substantial margin of safety exists between the maximum concentration in surface water, groundwater and/or drinking water and the (provisional) guideline value. The present assessment therefore supports the conclusion that the majority of the compounds evaluated pose individually no appreciable concern to human health.
authors.affiliation: KWR Watercycle Research Institute, P.O. Box 1072, 3430 BB Nieuwegein, The Netherlands. merijn.schriks@kwrwater.nl
authors.forename: Merijn
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schriks
authors.forename: Minne B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Heringa
authors.forename: Margaretha M E
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: van der Kooi
authors.forename: Pim
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: de Voogt
authors.forename: Annemarie P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: van Wezel
mesh_terms: D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000592:standards / Q000633:toxicity*; D014881:Water Supply / Q000032:analysis* / Q000592:standards
chemical_list: D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical