Guidance document on the impact of water treatment processes on residues of active substances or their metabolites in water abstracted for the production of drinking water

• Published in: EFSA journal Vol. 21; no. 8; pp. e08194 - n/a
• Main Authors: Hofman‐Caris, Roberta, Dingemans, Milou, Reus, Astrid, Shaikh, Sanah Majid, Muñoz Sierra, Julian, Karges, Ursula, Beek, Tim aus der, Nogueiro, Eugénia, Lythgo, Christopher, Parra Morte, Juan Manuel, Bastaki, Maria, Serafimova, Rositsa, Friel, Anja, Court Marques, Daniele, Uphoff, Andreas, Bielska, Lucie, Putzu, Claudio, Ruggeri, Laura, Papadaki, Paschalina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.08.2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Animal health; biocidal products; Biocides; disinfection; Documents; Domestic animals; Drinking water; Environmental risk; Experimental methods; Flow velocity; genotoxicity; Groundwater; Guidance; Metabolites; Plant protection; plant protection products; Public health; Residues; Risk assessment; Rivers; Surface water; Surface-groundwater relations; transformation products; Vertebrates; Water treatment; genotoxicity; biocidal products; risk assessment; disinfection; transformation products; groundwater; plant protection products
• ISSN: 1831-4732; 1831-4732; 2314-9396
• DOI: 10.2903/j.efsa.2023.8194

This guidance document provides a tiered framework for risk assessors and facilitates risk managers in making decisions concerning the approval of active substances (AS) that are chemicals in plant protection products (PPPs) and biocidal products, and authorisation of the products. Based on the approaches presented in this document, a conclusion can be drawn on the impact of water treatment processes on residues of the AS or its metabolites in surface water and/or groundwater ed for the production of drinking water, i.e. the formation of transformation products (TPs). This guidance enables the identification of actual public health concerns from exposure to harmful compounds generated during the processing of water for the production of drinking water, and it focuses on water treatment methods commonly used in the European Union (EU). The tiered framework determines whether residues from PPP use or residues from biocidal product use can be present in water at water ion locations. Approaches, including experimental methods, are described that can be used to assess whether harmful TPs may form during water treatment and, if so, how to assess the impact of exposure to these water treatment TPs (tTPs) and other residues including environmental TPs (eTPs) on human and domesticated animal health through the consumption of TPs via drinking water. The types of studies or information that would be required are described while avoiding vertebrate testing as much as possible. The framework integrates the use of weight‐of‐evidence and, when possible alternative (new approach) methods to avoid as far as possible the need for additional testing.