Overview
Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) pose a risk to the water industry due to their presence in sewage and drinking water sources, as well as their potential formation during treatment, and their potential toxicity to humans and the environment. A defining feature of a CEC is a lack of experimental information on either occurrence or toxicity (or both), making it difficult to provide an accurate risk assessment.
ECHIDNA (Emerging Chemicals Database for National Awareness) is an online information and decision support system that was developed through WaterRA Project 1127 and made available to users in 2021. The purpose of ECHIDNA is to provide the best available information on occurrence and toxicity of CEC to enable a risk assessment, and to provide information on removal of CECs during water treatment to enable development of a mitigation strategy if necessary.
ECHIDNA currently prioritises identified CECs based on predicted toxicity and occurrence concentrations, producing a short-list of potentially high-risk CECs for further investigation. Much of the effort during the development of ECHIDNA has focused on developing the framework to achieve this prioritisation and filling in extensive knowledge gaps with best available models. But it is clear that predictive toxicity and fate models are limited, and ECHIDNA would benefit from improved and more reliable experimental data.
This project aims to enhance the usefulness of ECHIDNA by improving data reliability and thus enhancing the risk assessment and prioritisation. The proposal is split into four modules, which could be funded either independently or in combination, to enhance ECHIDNA and better support risk management of CECs in the Australian environment.
WaterRA contact: Dr Marty Hancock
Budget estimate: $200,000
Closing date: 1 June 2026