1. Emissions to surface waters
ETC technical report
Task Leader = Joost van den Roovaart (Deltares)
Project Manager = Caroline Whalley (EEA)

2. Technical report aimed at informed audience.
Overview of report
Provide an overview of emissions to water at the European level for nutrients, organic matter, and priority substances.
Main data source was E-PRTR*: Major point sources e.g. urban waste water treatment plants (UWWTPs) and industry, and diffuse sources e.g. agriculture, atmospheric deposition and traffic.
Technical report aimed at informed audience.
* European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (EC) 166/2006

3. Contents Emission sources, pathways and pollutants
European policy and data requirements
Emissions from industry
Emissions from urban waste water treatment plants (UWWTPs)
Emissions from diffuse sources
Synthesis and outlook
Annexes

4. Basis for definitions of sources and pathways
EC Technical Report – 058,

5. Percentages of release reports in EPRTR, excluding UWWTPs 2007-14
Pollutants with the largest number of reported releases
Release reports per sector
Total no. release reports was , of which were from industry

6. Pollutants with the largest number of release reports, UWWTPs, 2007-2014
Total no. release reports was , of which were from industry

7. Sectoral contribution (%) to release to surface water for most-frequently reported pollutants in E-PRTR, excluding UWWTPs ( )

8. Sectoral contribution (kg) to release to surface water for most-frequently reported pollutants in E-PRTR, excluding UWWTPs ( )

9. % contribution from 5 UWWTPs with highest releases, 2007-2014

10. Trends of relative releases to water of nutrients, TOC and metals in E-PRTR (2007-14)
excluding UWWTPs
UWWTPs
2007 = 1

11. Trend of releases to surface water – 8 most frequently reported pollutants, (top = excluding UWWTPs; bottom = UWWTPs)
Blue = reduction
Red = increase
Numbers of releases in parentheses – left = 2007, right = 2014

12. Trend of releases to surface water – other reported pollutants, excluding UWWTPs, 2007-2014
Blue = reduction
Red = increase
Numbers of releases in parentheses – left = 2007, right = 2014

13. Trend of releases to surface water – other reported pollutants, UWWTPs, 2007-2014
Blue = reduction
Red = increase
Numbers of releases in parentheses –
left = 2007, right = 2014

14. Total nitrogen releases to surface water per activity sector for four European regions in 2007, 2010 and 2014 (kilotonnes/year), excluding UWWTPs

15. Zinc releases to surface water per activity sector for four European regions in 2007, 2010 and 2014 (ton/year), excluding UWWTPs

16. Trend of pollutant releases from UWWTPs for 5 European regions in 2007, 2010 and 2014.
Nutrients and Total organic carbon in kilotonnes/year, metals in ton/year

17. Potentially missing releases for pollutants, UWWTPs > 100 000 p. e
Potentially missing releases for pollutants, UWWTPs > p.e. (E-PRTR 2013). Reported E-PRTR releases = 1
Roovaart et al, 2016

18. Estimated releases from UWWTPs not reported in EPRTR
Sum of quantified potentially missing releases of UWWTPs > p.e. and quantified releases of smaller UWWTPs < p.e. (green) compared with releases of UWWTPs reported under E-PRTR (blue, where quantity reported under EPRTR =1)

19. Overview of combined releases for 8 most reported pollutants, compared with releases from Industry & UWWTPs reported under E-PRTR
reported E-PRTR releases = 1

20. Gaps in emissions data
Lack of data regarding the production capacity of the facilities related to the different activities, other than for UWWTPs.
Missing UWWTPs > p.e. in E-PRTR and non-reported pollutants from UWWTPs appear to represent considerable gap.
UWWTPs < p.e. do not have to report under E-PRTR, but contribution to total UWWTP releases is expected to be relevant. A quantification method based on emission factors is available.
For most key pollutants, the contribution of the diffuse sources to the total release to water greatly exceeds the contribution of the point sources. Most countries do not report on diffuse sources, or only for a few sources and pollutants.

21. Conclusions
Comparison of national inventories on emissions to water is hampered by differences in definitions (sources, pathways), methods, reporting timeframes, formats and thresholds
High percentage of release reports related to small set of pollutants (total nitrogen, total phosphorus, total organic carbon (TOC), arsenic, copper, lead, nickel and zinc).
Small percentage of both industrial facilities and UWWTPs are responsible for large percentage of releases of the 8 most reported pollutants
Reported E-PRTR releases seem only to represent limited part of total releases to water.
Considerable effort made to quantify diffuse emissions to water, but there is very limited reporting. For most key pollutants the contribution of diffuse sources to total releases to water greatly exceeds the contribution of point sources

22. Thanks for listening
ETC task leader – Joost van den Roovaart (Deltares)
Nanette van Duijnhoven (Deltares)
Hana Prchalová (Cenia)
Benoit Fribourg-Blanc and Sonia Siauve (Oieau)