Environmental and Water Chemistry for Human Health (ONHEALTH)

Mejorando la caracterización molecular de mezclas complejas en estudios ambientales, humanos y toxicológicos mediante un enfoque integrado utilizando espectrometría de masas y movilidad iónica

Este equipamiento es parte de la ayuda EQC2024-008517-P, financiada por MCIN/ AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ y FEDER Una manera de hacer Europa.

Start Date: 01/01/2024 – End Date: 30/06/2026

Integrated approach to assess the levels and impact of contaminants of emerging concern on blue health and biodiversity modulated by climate change drivers

The ONE-BLUE project aims to address the growing concerns about emerging contaminants (CECs) in marine environments. CECs can be found in pharmaceuticals, personal care products, flame retardants, pesticides, plastic additives, and micro- and nanoplastics. These contaminants pose a significant risk to marine ecosystems and biodiversity. Moreover, climate change exacerbates these risks by altering marine conditions, contaminant behaviour, and ocean acidification. The project seeks to enhance understanding of the presence, behaviour, and impacts of CECs in marine ecosystems under the influence of climate change.

ONE-BLUE focuses on developing new monitoring tools, advanced methodologies, and a comprehensive database (CECsMarineDB) to support effective management and policy decision-making. The studies include sampling campaigns in selected marine areas—the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic, and the Mediterranean Sea—as well as controlled marine mesocosm experiments to investigate the interactions between CECs and climate change. Additionally, the project employs machine learning-based predictive models to assess and forecast future impacts. The project outcomes will be widely disseminated, and exploitation plans will be established to ensure the effective application of the developed technologies.

Funding: European Union’s HORIZON-CL6-2023-ZEROPOLLUTION-01 Ref No. 101134929

Start Date: 01/01/2024 – End Date: 30/06/2028

Funding: European Project

https://one-blue.eu/

Estat sanitari de les anguiles europees d’estanys i cursos fluvials de la Mediterrània occidental: desenvolupament de mètodes no invasius d’estudi de fonts de contaminació i proposta de mesures de restauració

El projecte AnguillaMed analitzarà l’estat sanitari de les poblacions d’anguila europea (Anguilla anguilla) a la Mediterrània occidental, desenvolupant mètodes no invasius per a l’estudi de fonts de contaminació i fent propostes de mesures de restauració del seu estat sanitari. Des de mitjans del s. XX, la població d’anguila europea s’ha reduït a tot el món fins a tenir una presència mínima. Es calcula que els últims 50 anys els efectius d’aquesta espècie tan vulnerable s’han reduït a menys del 95%. Les causes principals en són la sobrepesca, la ruptura de la connectivitat ecològica, l’elevada la contaminació química de l’aigua i infestacions parasitàries, entre altres. Aquest projecte farà un estudi de camp que inclourà 12 llocs d’estudi, que corresponen a diverses masses d’aigua. D’entrada, a la demarcació dels Pirineus Orientals, a la de Girona i a la de Barcelona.

Els resultats del projecte permetran conèixer els nivells de degradació i l’estat ecològic dels ambients o hàbitats aquàtics continentals, llacunes costaneres i cursos fluvials i centrar-se en les causes del declivi de la biodiversitat: l’alteració de la hidromorfologia i la hidrodinàmica, la contaminació difusa d’origen agrari o industrial, etc. A partir d’aquí, i tenint en compte que l’anguila és una espècie indicadora de la qualitat del medi aquàtic, la intenció és proposar les mesures de restauració més adequades per a aquests hàbitats, de comú acord amb els grups socials d’interès de cada lloc d’estudi. Els resultats de la recerca també es considera que puguin ser extrapolables a altres regions mediterrànies i europees.

Start Date: 01/01/2024 – End Date: 31/12/2026

Funding: European Project

https://anguillamed.eu/

Developing strategies for controlling anthropogenic and geogenic pollutants in groundwater

The sustainability of freshwater resources is one of the most important challenges of the Mediterranean region and European Union, constituting a social, economic, and technological challenge, as pressure on these resources is increasing rapidly due to sharp population growth and industrial and agricultural activities. This situation will be especially dramatic in urban areas, which are expected to amass 70% of the world's population by 2050. Moreover, water resources will be also affected by climate change, especially in the south of Europe, where droughts will be more frequent, intense, and long. Combining both chemical and quantitative status assessments show that 29% of the total groundwater body area lacks sufficient capacity to meet the needs of ecosystems or society. Consequently, it is essential to preserve groundwater resources from overexploitation, but also from anthropogenic pollution.

WATERPOLLUT is focused on the newest classes of contaminants (organic contaminants of emerging concern, microplastics, geogenic trace elements and inorganic elements of emerging concern), investigating their presence, their hydrodynamic behaviour and natural attenuation through modelling and identification of their transformation products in groundwater, and also the potential risk associated with the consumption of drinking water produced from contaminated groundwater. In addition, the project aims at identifying pollution sources of emerging contaminants and at distinguishing between anthropogenic and geogenic origins in case of inorganic pollutants. Studies will be conducted in the deltas of two Mediterranean with distinct characteristics.

WATERPOLLUT will consist of two sub-projects: ATTENUATION and GEOTHROP-H₂O, which are executed by two research institutes. the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA) and Desertification Research Centre (CIDE) with recognized expertise in water quality analysis, risk assessment of contaminants in human health and environment, the assessment urban groundwater quality and evaluation of the impact of climate change on freshwater resources. To achieve the demanding objectives of this project, subject matter experts from the fields of analytical chemistry, hydrogeochemistry and numerical modelling will team up to design and execute the project in order to generate meaningful quality results. The need for such multidisciplinarity has been the driver for the collaboration between the two Centers coordinating the two subprojects that constitute the project WATERPOLLUT.

Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades; PID2022-138556OB-C21

Start Date: 01/09/2023 – End Date: 31/08/2026

Funding: National Project

https://waterpollut.csic.es/

TRANSIT

Tire Rubber Additives on the environment and wildlife and implications for the human health

TRANSIT is aimed to perform a broad environmental and human exposure assessment to Tire Wear Particles (TWPs) and related chemical compounds by the collection and analysis of air, water, biota and human samples from the Llobregat River Delta and surroundings. This is a unique area comprising the second biggest Spanish airport surrounded by urban, agricultural, industrial and natural protected spaces to study the fate of TWPs in the environment and their impact on the human health.

Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación. Reference: PID2022-138623OA-100

Start Date: 01/09/2023 – End Date: 31/08/2026

Funding: National Project

BIOplasticMENT

Biodegradation and interaction of bioplastic residues with the environment

The BIOplasticMENT project will address the emerging issues related to the presence of bio-micro-and-nanoplastics in the environment. It will evaluate the main exposure routes for the aquatic organism to respond to the multiple shortcomings and different innovative strategies for the decontamination of waters will be tested.

Start Date: 01/09/2023 – End Date: 31/08/2025

Funding: National Project

ACCIÓN

Scientific approaches in the implementation of marine strategies: management tools

The main objective of the Marine Strategies Framework Directive is to protect the marine environment. To this end, Member States must develop Marine Strategies (EEMM) that include the initial assessment of the environmental status of national marine waters, the definition of the good environmental status (BEA) of the marine environment based on 11 descriptors, the establishment of environmental targets, the development and implementation of monitoring programmes designed to assess whether the BEA is being achieved, and programmes of measures aimed at achieving the BEA.
In Spain, the competent authority for the development of the EEMM is the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITERD). There is currently a need to improve scientific knowledge on the state of the marine environment at national level, its response and/or adaptation to climate change and to integrate it into decision-making on its management. The ACCIÓN project arises from this need and brings together a consortium of CSIC researchers with complementary experiences in the assessment and prediction of the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems and in the development of tools for response and adaptation to future scenarios. The IDAEA coordinates Eje 6: Pollution in fishery products, directly related to EEMM Descriptor 9.

Funding: Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico: European Union-NextGenerationEU Agreement between MITERD and CSIC, through PTI OCEANS+

Start Date: 01/01/2023 – End Date: 31/12/2025

Funding: European Project

BIOFUNPAPER

Development of biodegradable multifunctional coatings for paper and cardboard packaging applications

Thin film polymer coating applications are one of the most common functional applications in the packaging industry. Due to the low weight of these plastic layers, their high surface-to-thickness ratio and the difficulty to separate it from the other layers in multilayer structures, their recyclability is not technically feasible nor economically / environmentaly worthwile. BIOFUNPAPER project aims at developing thin film coatings made of organic recyclable biopolymers for the development of hydrophobic and high barrier paper and cardboard coating, fully biodegradable, free of toxic additives and with lower environmental impact than what is currently available. The materials developed in the project will be fully assessed to ensure the performance as barrier and hydrophobic packaging materials as well as the compostability and biodegradability of the concepts in the environment.
The consortium of the project is composed of a multidisciplinary research team of 4 partners: Bioinicia SL (a biotech company devoted to electro-hydrodynamic processing of materials), the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC), the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), and the University Jaume I (UJI). The project will begin in a very low TRL 2-3 with the development of new materials, and will finish in high TRL 5-6 with the validation of the protoypes at an industrial scale.

Funding: Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Proyectos de colaboración Público-Privada): CPP2021-008973

Thin film polymer coating applications are one of the most common functional applications in the packaging industry. Due to the low weight of these plastic layers, their high surface-to-thickness ratio and the difficulty to separate it from the other layers in multilayer structures, their recyclability is not technically feasible nor economically / environmentaly worthwile. BIOFUNPAPER project aims at developing thin film coatings made of organic recyclable biopolymers for the development of hydrophobic and high barrier paper and cardboard coating, fully biodegradable, free of toxic additives and with lower environmental impact than what is currently available. The materials developed in the project will be fully assessed to ensure the performance as barrier and hydrophobic packaging materials as well as the compostability and biodegradability of the concepts in the environment.
The consortium of the project is composed of a multidisciplinary research team of 4 partners: Bioinicia SL (a biotech company devoted to electro-hydrodynamic processing of materials), the Institute of Agrochemistry and Food Technology (IATA-CSIC), the Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), and the University Jaume I (UJI). The project will begin in a very low TRL 2-3 with the development of new materials, and will finish in high TRL 5-6 with the validation of the protoypes at an industrial scale.

Funding: Proyecto CPP2021-008973, financiado por MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 y por la Unión Europea “NextGenerationEU”/PRTR

Start Date: 01/06/2022 – End Date: 31/12/2025

Funding: National Project

Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals

The European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (#EU_PARC) aims to advance research, share knowledge, and improve skills in chemical risk assessment. By doing so, it will help support the European Union's Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability, paving the way for the "zero pollution" ambition announced in the European Green Deal.

Main objectives:
- Develop the scientific skills needed to address current and future challenges in chemical safety
- Provide new data, methods, and innovative tools to those responsible for assessing and managing the risks of chemical exposure
- Strengthen the networks which bring together actors specialised in the different scientific fields contributing to risk assessment

PARC represents a campaign of unprecedented scale, since it brings together 200 partners from 28 countries, as well as three EU agencies (the European Environment Agency – EEA, the European Chemicals Agency – ECHA, and the European Food Safety Authority – EFSA). The partnership encompasses all aspects of chemical risk assessment, aiming in particular to: better anticipate emerging risks, better account for combined risks, and underpin the concrete implementation of new orientations in European public policies to safeguard the health and the environment in response to important issues for health, the ecology and citizens' expectations.

The Spanish coordination was assigned to the IDAEA's Geochemistry and Pollution group (Joan Grimalt) and the Instituto Carlos III.

HORIZON-HLTH-2021-ENVHLTH-03: 101057014

Start Date: 01/05/2022 – End Date: 30/04/2029

Funding: European Project

https://www.eu-parc.eu/

Understanding groundwater pollution to protect and enhance water quality

Groundwater plays a key role in providing water supplies and livelihoods to respond the pronounced water scarcity. Groundwater pollution is a widespread worldwide problem. The scientific and technological goals of the UPWATER project are:
-To provide scientific knowledge on identification, occurrence and fate of pollutants in the groundwater with cost-efficient sampling methods based on passive samplers.
-To develop sources apportionment methods to identify and quantify the pollution sources.
-To validate and assess the performance of bio-based engineered natural treatment systems designed as mitigation solutions.
The monitoring and mitigation solutions will be validated in 3 case studies (Denmark, Greece and Spain), representing different climate conditions and a combination of rural, industrial and urban pollution sources. Expected outcomes include amongst others updating the EU chemical priority lists, scaling-up the pilot bio-based solutions to demonstration scale, the adoption of some preventive measures in the case studies and the close-to-market development of the passive sampling devices.

Start Date: 01/11/2022 – End Date: 30/04/2026

Funding: European Project

https://www.upwater.eu/