Internationally agreed long-term monitoring indicators do not consider the risks of new synthetic substances. Screening a wide range of chemical substances gives early identification data about substances that exceed ecotoxicological effect values in the aquatic environment. This work summarizes the pollutants found in the Estonian water environment, which can cause both short-term and long-term effects on aquatic life. Data have been collected within the period of 2016–2023 in the framework of various projects, including Estonian national environmental monitoring [
1]. Information on substances is collected both with substance-group-based multi-methods (ca 300 substances using HPLC/MS; GC/MS), with wide-scope target screening (2500 substances using LC-ESI-HRMS and GC-APCI-HRMS), and with non-target suspect screening (more than 65,000 compounds in each of the samples including their semi-quantification using LC-ESI-HRMS) [
2]. In the screening results, both completely new substances that were not previously associated with environmental risk and substances that have already been regulated and considered an important risk factor were found. In Estonian waters, 10 substances were found in all sea fish and shellfish samples examined. Five of these substances also exceeded the PNEC value on all samples (5′-Methylthioadenosine; 1-Eicosanol, phosphate, compd. with 2,2′-iminobis[ethanol]; Misoprostol; Butyl acrylate; 1-Propanone; 1-(4-dodecyl phenyl)-2-hydroxy-2-methyl-). PAHs and PFASs still pose an environmental risk. The screening identifies regional peculiarities. Not all substances are spread all over the Baltic Sea. Some have significant effects only in Estonian waters. Screening studies of man-made substances found in the environment with the latest analytical methods and knowledge, taking into account the latest scientific developments, will be necessary in the future in order to prevent long-term environmental problems. The presence of substances in the environment depends on the properties of the substance, and therefore it is important to monitor different matrices (water, sediment, biota).
Author Contributions
Conceptualization, M.L., K.M. and L.P.; methodology, K.M. and L.P.; validation, M.L., K.M. and L.P.; formal analysis, K.M. and L.P.; investigation, M.L.; resources, M.L.; data curation, M.L.; writing—original draft preparation, M.L.; writing—review and editing, K.M. and L.P.; project administration, M.L.; funding acquisition, M.L. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding
This research was co-financed by NEFCO BSAP-2021-149, (the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation Baltic Sea Action Plan Fund) and the HELCOM Contracting Parties and Estonian Environmental Ministry.
Institutional Review Board Statement
Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement
Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement
All data are available in Estonian environmental database “Keskkonnaseire infosüsttem KESE”
www.kese.envir.ee.
Acknowledgments
We thank the HELCOM secretariat for their co-operation. For performing the analysis and initial data interpretation, we thank the Environmental Institute (EI), Okruzna 784/42, 97241 Kos, Slovakia, and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Department of Chemistry, Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Panepistimiopolis, Athens 15771, Greece.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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