Domestic waste emissions to European waters in the 2010s

Estimation of domestic waste emissions to waters is needed for pollution assessment and modelling. We assessed quantity and location of domestic waste emissions to European waters for the 2010s. Specifically, we considered discharges of domestic waste Population Equivalent (PE), and mean annual loads (t/y) of total Nitrogen, total Phosphorous, and 5-days Biochemical Oxygen Demand. The spatial resolution and extent of the analysis corresponded to the CCM2 River and Catchment Database for Europe, for catchments of mean area of 6.4 km2. The assessment is based on available European databases that allowed pinpointing waste emissions to a high spatial and conceptual resolution. Content gaps, particularly concerning domestic waste from isolated dwellings, were filled through alternative sources of information, exploiting population density and national statistics data. The dataset is of interest for assessing waste emissions to and fate through European fresh and marine waters also beyond the three pollutants evaluated in this study.

VIGIAK Olga;  GRIZZETTI Bruna;  ZANNI Michela;  ALOE Alberto;  DORATI Chiara;  BOURAOUI Faycal;  PISTOCCHI Alberto; 

2020-01-29

NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP

JRC117865

2052-4463 (online),   

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-020-0367-0,    https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC117865,   

10.1038/s41597-020-0367-0 (online),