20. May 2025, Topic: Aquatic Ecotoxicology Risk Assessment

Quality criteria at the Ecotox Centre - new values and substances, new complete list

Do you need to assess environmental concentrations of chemicals? The Ecotox Centre maintains an extensive database of environmental quality criteria (EQC) and other ecotoxicological threshold values, which we have now expanded to include new information.

We have developed a new EQC for the insecticide tefluthrin, which belongs to the group of pyrethroids: You can find the data dossier on our website. There we also provide ad hoc EQCs for which no complete dossier has been compiled and which are based on a reduced data search (focus on authorisation data, if available). In addition, EQS derived by other countries or institutions that we propose for the risk assessment of water samples - we have updated this overall EQS table for you.  There have been changes to some substances, while others have been added to the list. These include additional ad hoc EQCs, quality criteria for metals and additional quality criteria for antibiotics.

The quality criteria for metals originate from the Swiss Water Protection Ordinance and have not yet been derived using the method currently used to derive EQS. They are to be used in the same way as acute EQS, as the concentrations should not be exceeded at any time.

The additional quality criteria for antibiotics differ from conventional EQCs, as the focus is not on protecting the ecosystem, but on avoiding the selection of antibiotic resistance in environmental bacteria. Resistant bacteria should not have a survival advantage, as resistance could otherwise spread further. These quality criteria have no legal significance in Switzerland. However, if you measure antibiotic concentrations that exceed these values, we will be happy to hear from you, as we are following this issue scientifically.

A list of all EQCs derived by the Ecotox Centre can still be found on our homepage. In addition, we also offer an Excel file for downloading the EQC with indicators for mixture toxicity assessment.

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