Draft:Non-Target Screening in the Rhine Basin

Non-Target Screening in the Rhine Basin is an initiative atempting to harmonize non-target screening (NTS) methodology across environmental monitoring authorities in the river Rhine basin. The goal of this harmonization is to reach high comparability of NTS data from different laboratories allowing for detection and tracking of emerging pollutants across monitoring stations along the river Rhine and its tributaries. The project is coordinated by the International Commission for the Protection of the Rhine, and it currently involves institutions from five European countries.

The early stage of the project (2021 – 2024) called "Rhinen Project NTS " was financed by the European Union via the LIFE programme.

During the early stage a platform for fast, automated, centralized evaluation and storage of NTS data was developed. This platform is called the NTS Tool and is hosted by the German state authority IT Baden-Württemberg.

Methodology
The NTS Tool comprises a harmonized analytical method based on liquide chromatography coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS), IT infrastructure (cloud, terminal server), software enviMass for NTS data evaluation, quality control measures based on isotopically labeled standard compounds, and the data aggregation and visualization tool (DAV-Tool). The DAV-Tool enables laboratory personel to search for emerging pollutants across all involved monitoring stations. The final technical solution and its functions were presented during the NTS workshop on September 18th, 2023.

Participating institutions

 * Administration de la gestion de l’eau (AGE), Luxembourg
 * Amt für Umwelt und Energie Basel-Stadt (AUE-Basel), Switzerland
 * Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), France
 * Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BfG), Germany
 * Landesanstalt für Umwelt Baden-Württemberg (LUBW), Germany
 * Landesamt für Natur, Umwelt und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen (LANUV), Germany
 * Rijkswaterstaat – Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat (RWS), Netherlands

Development timeline (2021-2024)

 * Network of monitoring stations for harmonized non-target screening.jpg 2021: Start of the Rhine Project Non-Target Screening (NTS).


 * June 2021: Conducted a round robin test to compare six liquid chromatography (LC) methods and evaluate mass spectrometry (MS1) data comparability.
 * August 2021: Development of the IT infrastructure, including cloud setup, server configuration, and user account management.


 * April 2022: Completed a round robin test to assess the detectability of 27 selected isotopically labeled internal standards (IS) and 131 target compounds across three concentration levels (10 ng/L, 100 ng/L, 1000 ng/L).


 * May 2022: Established quality control criteria based on 26 isotopically labeled IS, focusing on parameters such as intensity, retention time, and mass.
 * June 2022: Defined the harmonized and standardized liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) method.
 * July 2022: Optimized data processing to achieve data comparability.
 * August 2022: Initiated regular monitoring based on harmonized NTS data acquisition at six stations on the River Rhine.
 * April 2024: New monitoring station in Schengen was integrated into the harmonized NTS network,

Goals (2024 – 2029)

 * The NTS Tool will be used for warning purposes in scope of the International Warning and Alarm Plan Rhine (IWAP Rhine) since the centralized data evaluation allows to identify contaminants promptly and that appropriate action can be taken to protect public health and the environment.


 * Another aim of the project is the transfer of knowledge about known and unknown emerging pollutants to expert groups and drinking water suppliers in the Rhine river basin.
 * The results gained from the NTS Tool will contribute to monitor the goals formulated in the Rhine 2040 programme including the 30% reduction target for emerging pollutants, the goals of the Zero pollution action plan, and individual strategies of the states in the river Rhine basin. The Rhine monitoring program and the Rhine 2040 rely on the NTS method to identify newly occurring chemical substances.