MONITOOL

The protection of waters in Europe is regulated by the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which is mandatory for all European Union members. Detecting and monitoring the level of contaminants in seawater and inland waterways is a key element of the WFD.

In many cases it is very difficult or even impossible, by traditional techniques so, there is an urgent need to find accurate, reliable, easy and cost-efficient alternatives.

Objectives

The main driver of MONITOOL project is to respond to European Directive demands for the assessment of chemical status of transitional and coastal waters, allowing the use of passive sampling devices (PSDs) in a regulatory context, enhancing the implementation of the WFD.

MONITOOL PROJECT – New tools for monitoring the chemical status in transitional and coastal waters under the WFD – aims to provide a robust database of dissolved and labile metal concentrations in transitional and coastal waters for adapting existing Environmental Quality Standards (EQS; 0.45 µm filtered) suitable EQS-DGT for passive sampling devices in order to evaluate the chemical status of the waters under the WFD.

During MONITOOL project, co-deployments of DGTs and water spot sampling and subsequent DGT and water metal analysis across the Atlantic region will be addressed to determine suitable EQS-DGTs for metals.

Website

https://www.monitoolproject.eu/

Participants

Dublin City University (Leader), Instituto Tecnológico de Canarias, Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, AZTI, Institut Français de Recherche pour l’ Exploitation de la Mer, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, Instituto Superior Técnico, The Scottish Government, Foras na Mara, Consejo Insular de Aguas de Gran Canaria, Viceconsejería de Medioambiente del Gobierno de Canarias, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, Agence Française pour la Biodiversité, Agencia Vasca del Agua, Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente.

Funding