ICPR publishes recommendations for effective reduction of micropollutants in the Rhine and its tributaries

The International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine (ICPR) has published recommendations on how states in the Rhine catchment can further reduce micropollutant inputs into waters. They particularly concern the areas of wastewater collection and wastewater treatment systems, agriculture, industry and trade.

The ICPR has been keeping an eye on the relevance of different micropollutants and existing approaches to reducing their polluting waters for more than 10 years. The exposure situation has been published (ICPR Technical Report No. 246) and different possibilities of reducing pollution exist.

Within the ICPR, the existing approaches have been evaluated at a national level. The result: Joint recommendations to reduce micropollutants in the waters of the Rhine catchment. They focus on municipal systems collecting and treating wastewater containing pharmaceutical residues, radiocontrast agents and other groups of substances, on agriculture, in particular pesticides and on industry and trade, as far as different industrial chemicals are concerned.

The ICPR recommendations have been published on www.iksr.org as ICPR Technical Report No. 253.