Standards Development

Scope

This document specifies a method for the determination of 5 oestrogens, in whole water samples listed in Table 1. The method uses solid-phase extraction (SPE-disks and/or cartridges) followed by liquid or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (tandem mass spectrometry and/or High resolution mass spectrometry). It is applicable to the analysis of selected estrogens in surface water containing suspended particulate matter (SPM) up to 50 mg/l , DOC content up to 7 mg/l (whole water samples), drinking water and groundwater.

Purpose

Water is a crucial resource and its quality must be ensured. For this reason, an ambitious set of European directives has been put in place under the umbrella of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which demands the monitoring and control of the occurrence and concentrations of potentially polluting substances in the aquatic environment.

According to WFD and Directive 2013/39/EU [1], the monitoring programmes should generate high-quality data on the concentration of priority substances and other pollutants in the aquatic environment. Decision EU 2015/495 specifies a “Watch List” (WL) of substances pursuant to the WFD that must be monitored across Europe. The WL is a mechanism for obtaining high-quality monitoring data for potential water pollutants for which nowadays only insufficient monitoring data (or data of insufficient quality) are available. Its final goal is to determine the risk they pose at EU level and to decide if an Environmental Quality Standard (EQS) should be set for those substances. Three estrogenic substances: 17-beta-estradiol (17E2), 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol (17EE2) and estrone (E1) have been included in the first WL. Required Detection limits were 0,035 ng/l for 17EE2 and 0,4 ng/l for 17E2 and E1. The substances are now under prioritization process for inclusion as new priority substances of the WFD. Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) are setting up at EU level for inland as well as other surface waters to protect the aquatic environment against chemical pollution (Directive 2008/105/EC), and the level of could be lowest that the previous required detection limits. With the exception of metals, the EQSs are expressed as total concentrations in the whole water sample. Furthermore, analytical methods used in WFD monitoring need to meet certain requirements as regards the minimum limit of quantification and the maximum tolerable measurement uncertainty (Directive2009/90/EC). So far, there is no standardized method available for the determination of estrogens in whole water samples fulfilling those requirements.

The proposal will provide validated methods satisfying future requirements in support of the WFD, DWD and any others regulation worldwide.

This work is supported by 18NRM01 Metrology for monitoring endocrine disrupting compounds under the Water Framework Directive EDC-WFD, which has received funding from the EMPIR programme co-financed by the participating States and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.