Committee for the Identification of Relevant Micropollutants | Umweltbundesamt

Of the many different micropollutants, the only relevant micropollutants need to be identified. These are those for which any measures to reduce their concentrations in the water bodies are then taken. To this end, the German Environment Agency prepares a brief dossier in accordance with the procedure for the selection and evaluation of micropollutants developed in the federal government’s Trace Substance Strategy. This contains the information required for assessing the relevance. These brief dossiers are submitted to the committee to be discussed and decided on.

The following independent national experts have been appointed by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) to the “Committee for the Identification of Relevant Micropollutants” for the appointment period starting in 2022:

• Dr Marlies Bergheim
• Dr Elke Eilebrecht, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME
• Prof. Dr Markus Große-Ophoff, German Federal Foundation for the Environment
• Dr Bodo Haas, Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices
• Dr Günther Hanke, formerly State Chamber of Pharmacists of Baden-Württemberg
• Dr Oliver Huschens, Hessenwasser GmbH & Co. KG
• Dr Reinhard Länge, formerly Bayer AG
• Dr Wilfried Manheller, Niersverband
• Prof. Dr Jörg Oehlmann, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Institute für Ecology, Evolution and Diversity
• Dr Kerstin Röske, Saxon State Ministry for Energy, ⁠Climate Change Mitigation⁠, Environment and Agriculture, Unit 44 – Surface Water Flood protection
• Dr habil. Helmut Schafft, Federal Institute for Risk Assessment, Dept. of Safety in the Food Chain
• Dr Wolfram Seitz, Administration Union of the Regional Water Supply, Operating and Research Laboratory of Langenau
• Prof. Dr Thomas Ternes, Federal Institute of Hydrology
• Prof. Dr Rita Triebskorn, University of Tübingen
• Sue-Martina Starke, German Centre for Micropollutants at the German Environment Agency

The committee then decides on the relevance of the micropollutant or group of micropollutants on the basis of evaluation criteria such as the reference values. All relevant micropollutants are listed here. The office of the committee is located at the German Centre for Micropollutants.