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An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via the original article.

AbstractTamara Grummt passed away on January 26, 2020 in Oelsnitz/Vogtland, Germany. Tamara was one of the scientific pioneers in the field of environmental toxicology, namely genotoxicity and hygiene of drinking and bathing waters. Her passing is not only a great loss to environmental research and to the global environmental toxicology community—we have lost an outstanding personality with the heart in the right place, who has become, for many of us, a wonderful friend.

Abstract

Background
The Max Weaver Dye Library (MWDL) from North Carolina State University is a repository of around 98,000 synthetic dyes. Historically, the uses for these dyes included the coloration of textiles, paper, packaging, cosmetic and household products. However, little is reported about their ecotoxicological properties. It is anticipated that prediction models could be used to help provide this type information. Thus, the purpose of this work was to determine whether a recently developed QSAR (quantitative structure–activity relationships) model, based on ACO-SVM techniques, would be suitable for this purpose.


Results
We selected a representative subset of the MWDL, composed of 15 dyes, for testing under controlled conditions. First, the molecular structure and purity of each dye was confirmed, followed by predictions of their solubility and pKa to set up the appropriate test conditions. Only ten of the 15 dyes showed acute toxicity in Daphnia, with EC50 values ranging from 0.35 to 2.95 mg L−1. These values were then used to determine the ability of the ACO-SVM model to predict the aquatic toxicity. In this regard, we observed a good prediction capacity for the 10 dyes, with 90% of deviations within one order of magnitude. The reasons for this outcome were probably the high quality of the experimental data, the consideration of solubility limitations, as well as the high purity and confirmed chemical structures of the tested dyes. We were not able to verify the ability of the model to predict the toxicity of the remaining 5 dyes, because it was not possible to determine their EC50.


Conclusions
We observed a good prediction capacity for the 10 of the 15 tested dyes of the MWDL, but more dyes should be tested to extend the existing training set with similar dyes, to obtain a reliable prediction model that is applicable to the full MWDL.

The chemical pollution crisis severely threatens human and environmental health globally. To tackle this challenge the establishment of an overarching international science-policy body has recently been suggested. We strongly support this initiative based on the awareness that humanity has already likely left the safe operating space within planetary boundaries for novel entities including chemical pollution. Immediate action is essential and needs to be informed by sound scientific knowledge and data compiled and critically evaluated by an overarching science-policy interface body. Major challenges for such a body are (i) to foster global knowledge production on exposure, impacts and governance going beyond data-rich regions (e.g., Europe and North America), (ii) to cover the entirety of hazardous chemicals, mixtures and wastes, (iii) to follow a one-health perspective considering the risks posed by chemicals and waste on ecosystem and human health, and (iv) to strive for solution-oriented assessments based on systems thinking. Based on multiple evidence on urgent action on a global scale, we call scientists and practitioners to mobilize their scientific networks and to intensify science-policy interaction with national governments to support the negotiations on the establishment of an intergovernmental body based on scientific knowledge explaining the anticipated benefit for human and environmental health. ; The chemical pollution crisis severely threatens human and environmental health globally. To tackle this challenge the establishment of an overarching international science-policy body has recently been suggested. We strongly support this initiative based on the awareness that humanity has already likely left the safe operating space within planetary boundaries for novel entities including chemical pollution. Immediate action is essential and needs to be informed by sound scientific knowledge and data compiled and critically evaluated by an overarching science-policy interface body. Major challenges for ...

Environmental water quality monitoring aims to provide the data required for safeguarding the environment against adverse biological effects from multiple chemical contamination arising from anthropogenic diffuse emissions and point sources. Here, we integrate the experience of the international EU-funded project SOLUTIONS to shift the focus of water monitoring from a few legacy chemicals to complex chemical mixtures, and to identify relevant drivers of toxic effects. Monitoring serves a range of purposes, from control of chemical and ecological status compliance to safeguarding specific water uses, such as drinking water abstraction. Various water sampling techniques, chemical target, suspect and non-target analyses as well as an array of in vitro, in vivo and in situ bioanalytical methods were advanced to improve monitoring of water contamination. Major improvements for broader applicability include tailored sampling techniques, screening and identification techniques for a broader and more diverse set of chemicals, higher detection sensitivity, standardized protocols for chemical, toxicological, and ecological assessments combined with systematic evidence evaluation techniques. No single method or combination of methods is able to meet all divergent monitoring purposes. Current monitoring approaches tend to emphasize either targeted exposure or effect detection. Here, we argue that, irrespective of the specific purpose, assessment of monitoring results would benefit substantially from obtaining and linking information on the occurrence of both chemicals and potentially adverse biological effects. In this paper, we specify the information required to: (1) identify relevant contaminants, (2) assess the impact of contamination in aquatic ecosystems, or (3) quantify cause–effect relationships between contaminants and adverse effects. Specific strategies to link chemical and bioanalytical information are outlined for each of these distinct goals. These strategies have been developed and explored using case studies in the Danube and Rhine river basins as well as for rivers of the Iberian Peninsula. Current water quality assessment suffers from biases resulting from differences in approaches and associated uncertainty analyses. While exposure approaches tend to ignore data gaps (i.e., missing contaminants), effect-based approaches penalize data gaps with increased uncertainty factors. This integrated work suggests systematic ways to deal with mixture exposures and combined effects in a more balanced way, and thus provides guidance for future tailored environmental monitoring. © 2019, The Author(s). ; Funding text #1 1 UFZ‑Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany. 2 Institute for Environmental Research, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany. 3 Office of Research and Development, Atlantic Ecology Division, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, RI, USA. 4 Center for Applied Geoscience, Eberhard Karls Uni‑ versity Tübingen, 72074 Tübingen, Germany. 5 Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands. 6 Environment and Climate Change Canada, Burlington, ON, Canada. 7 Sophus Bauditz Vej 19 B, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark. 8 Water and Soil Quality Research Group, Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA‑ CSIC), Jordi Girona 18‑26, 08034 Barcelona, Spain. 9 Unité d'Ecotoxicologie Funding text #2 The SOLUTIONS Project is supported by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7‑ENV‑2013) of the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 603437. G.A. Umbuzeiro thanks FAPESP Projects 2013/16956‑6 and 2015/24758‑5. We like to thank all partners for their continued efforts in making this project a success story. Funding text #3 The SOLUTIONS Project is supported by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7‑ENV‑704 2013) of the European Union under Grant Agreement No. 603437. G.A. Umbuzeiro thanks 705 FAPESP Projects 2013/16956‑6 and 2015/24758‑5. ; Peer reviewed

Abstract

To meet the United Nations (UN) sustainable development goals and the European Union (EU) strategy for a non-toxic environment, water resources and ecosystems management require cost-efficient solutions for prevailing complex contamination and multiple stressor exposures. For the protection of water resources under global change conditions, specific research needs for prediction, monitoring, assessment and abatement of multiple stressors emerge with respect to maintaining human needs, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Collaborative European research seems an ideal instrument to mobilize the required transdisciplinary scientific support and tackle the large-scale dimension and develop options required for implementation of European policies. Calls for research on minimizing society's chemical footprints in the water–food–energy–security nexus are required. European research should be complemented with targeted national scientific funding to address specific transformation pathways and support the evaluation, demonstration and implementation of novel approaches on regional scales. The foreseeable pressure developments due to demographic, economic and climate changes require solution-oriented thinking, focusing on the assessment of sustainable abatement options and transformation pathways rather than on status evaluation. Stakeholder involvement is a key success factor in collaborative projects as it allows capturing added value, to address other levels of complexity, and find smarter solutions by synthesizing scientific evidence, integrating governance issues, and addressing transition pathways. This increases the chances of closing the value chain by implementing novel solutions. For the water quality topic, the interacting European collaborative projects SOLUTIONS, MARS and GLOBAQUA and the NORMAN network provide best practice examples for successful applied collaborative research including multi-stakeholder involvement. They provided innovative conceptual, modelling and instrumental options for future monitoring and management of chemical mixtures and multiple stressors in European water resources. Advancement of EU water framework directive-related policies has therefore become an option.