Pollutants of Priority Concern in Austrian Rivers

In this report by Umweltbundesamt (Environment Agency Austria) the occurrence of total mercury and methylmercury as well as trisphosphates has been investigated in three different compartments in the aquatic environment: surface waters, sediments, suspended solids and biota. Besides methylmercury, all compounds were detected in all investigated matrices. Methylmercury occurred only in biota. Mercury was found to strongly bioaccumulate in biota and trisphosphates adsorbed predominantly to suspended matter. Comparing the observed mercury levels in water as well as in biota, almost all measured concentrations were higher than the respective environmental quality standards (EQS). As the evaluation is based on few samples — whereas the EQS refer to annual average values based on monthly sampling — further measurements are required.