Integrated Decision Support Framework: Solutions to minimize risks posed by PM(T) substances in the soil-sediment-water system

Increasing water consumption, industrial pollution, and long dry periods – these are all water resource challenges that highlight the growing importance of the transition towards a circular economy for the soil-sediment-water system. As described by the European Green Deal call, pollution by persistent, mobile and potentially toxic (PM(T)) substances is often a systemic problem. It is related to the ways of production, use, and emission of these chemicals and is aggravated by missing technical solutions and monitoring techniques in the soil-sediment-water system. This poses challenges for regulatory authorities to develop or enforce effective policies throughout their lifecycle. The Horizon 2020 project PROMISCES aims to increase the circularity of resources by providing an array of solutions to minimize risks posed by these substances in the soil-sediment-water system. To achieve this overall goal, a key objective was to integrate newly developed and/or optimized solutions into the PROMISCES Decision Support Framework (DSF). 
To this end, we developed the solutions module of this integrated Decision Support Framework to assess systematic solutions for PM(T) substances, including PFAS in the circular economy, which is an important step towards realizing the European Zero Pollution ambition. The solutions module within the DSF presents a way of thinking and allows users to identify solutions at four levels: prevention, monitoring, risk assessment and treatment. Included solutions are based on the work from PROMISCES project. Other solutions such as PM(T) substances alternative assessment from our sister project ZeroPM, the European Union, the NORMAN network, The Swedish Centre for Chemical Substitution, CompTox Chemicals dashboard, PubChem and the UPWATER project are also mentioned and/or linked, where relevant. 
We applied the solutions module for five substance-use combinations including PFAS, to assist decision-makers in the risk management of PM(T) substances. Additionally, we applied the module for three circular economy routes to investigate diverse circular solutions developed in the project: A) Semi-closed water cycle for drinking water supply, B) Wastewater reuse for agricultural irrigation and C) Nutrient recovery from treated sludge for fertilizers. The effective implementing of these technical solutions requires broad and active stakeholder engagement to not only define the local and technical challenges posed by PFAS and other industrial PM(T) substances, but also to identify the social, economic, and governance barriers to implementation. Hence, through four co-creation workshops we gathered the perspectives from multiple stakeholders on systematic solutions to manage PM(T) substances. A successful solution strategy for the safe implementation of the circular economy and the management of PM(T) substances is one that is delivered at all levels and through the cooperation of multiple stakeholders to achieve the common goal of facilitating the implementation of the Zero Pollution and Circular Economy Action Plans.
The integrated DSF was developed as a digital tool featuring multiple other functionalities for managing PM(T)s, such as assessing and diagnosing specific potential PM(T) substances. This tool will be integrated into the NORMAN Database System as part of its tool collection, ensuring its long-term maintenance and accessibility.