About the Project

The goal of this project is to undertake a nationwide assessment of the presence of emerging chemicals of concern (ESOCs) from anthropogenic sources in the Irish environment. A range of organic chemicals which are of concern due to environmental persistence and/or toxicity have been identified and will be measured in several matrices from a variety of sources: inland river and lake sediments where run-off from domestic, industrial, or agricultural activities regularly occur; inland soils from agricultural areas and flood plains where fertilizer use or reuptake of chemicals due to heavy rainfall can occur; marine sediment samples offshore from high industrial and domestic outputs occur; and biosolids from wastewater treatment plants designated for use on agricultural soils. Samples of soils, sediments, and biosolids will be collected by the project team based in NUIG and analysed there as well as in partner labs at the University of Birmingham who will lead the analysis and relevant method development.

This project is led by Dr Marie Coggins and Dr Martin Sharkey of NUIG and is funded under the EPA Research Programme 2021-2030 by the Environmental Protection Agency of Ireland along with the Department of Agriculture, Food, and the Marine. This project began in February 2022 and will conclude in January of 2025.