Water and soil quality risk assessment | ECOSPHERE

This study area allows for scientifically based, societal relevant advice regarding water quality risk assessment. The assumption that adverse effects of chemicals can be meaningfully extrapolated from laboratory test conditions (in-vitro and in-vivo) to the ecosystem level is inherently embedded in the development of European policies concerned with the safe use of chemicals (REACH), The Green Deal and its Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability Towards a Toxic-free Environment, and protection of ecosystem functioning and ecosystem services, e.g. the Water Framework Directive. We contribute to the development of quantitative extrapolation tools based on mechanistic knowledge in the chain from exposure to effects, across all levels of biological organization, with a close connection to regulatory endpoints. The aim is to develop predictive models for describing the adverse effects of chemicals under realistic long-term exposure scenarios based on systematic knowledge acquired under laboratory and semi-field conditions.

Contact persons

Lieven Bervoets

Raewyn Town

Ronny Blust