Concentrations of key pollutants in wastewater, by type of pollutant

Unit :Milligrams per liter (mg/l), Micrograms per liter (ug/l)

Indicator :Pollutants released to environment

Metric Type :Pressure

Frameworks alignment notes

Target 7
Mandatory (Core global) TNFD C2.1. Volume of water discharged (m3), split into: • Total; • Freshwater; and • Other. Including: • Concentrations of key pollutants in the wastewater discharged, by type of pollutant, referring to sector-specific guidance for types of pollutants; and • Temperature of water discharged, where relevant.
Regen agri water chapter, Annex B, table 5: "Sediment and pollutant loads"
Mandatory AWS 1.5.4 Water quality, including physical, chemical, and biological status, of the catchment shall be identified, and where possible, quantified. Where there is a water-related challenge that would be a threat to good water quality status for people or environment, an indication of annual, and where appropriate, seasonal, high and low variances shall be identified. AWS 1.3.4 Water quality of the site’s water source(s), provided waters, effluent and receiving water bodies shall be quantified. Where there is a water-related challenge that would be a threat to good water quality status for people or environment, an indication of annual, and where appropriate, seasonal, high and low variances shall be quantified AWS 1.3.5 Potential sources of pollution shall be identified and if applicable, mapped, including chemicals used or stored on site.
1. CDP Water Security Voluntary W1.2k Provide details of your organization's emissions of nitrates, phosphates, pesticides, and other priority substances to water in the reporting year. 2. CDP Forests and Agri-Food CDP questionnaire. module 2: Identification, assessment & management of dependencies, impacts, risks, & opportunities, module 3: disclosure of risks and opportunities, and module 9: environmental performance, water security
Voluntary Step 1: Table 7: Instream N or P concentrations in the basin for locations where the pressure indicators of nutrient loading to freshwater via soil or via wastewater for N or P (respectively) have been quantified to be more than zero (i.e. not zero or near-zero values).
Mandatory data describing water quality (including for water withdrawal, release and water receiving body) emissions to air, water and soil that impact water quality
Article 4, Commitment 1d) All parties shall [...] Promote sustainable management, and promote and cooperate in the conservation and enhancement, as appropriate, of sinks and reservoirs of all greenhouse gases not controlled by the Montreal Protocol, including biomass, forests and oceans as well as other terrestrial, coastal and marine ecosystems;

Target example

[Company name] will reduce the concentration of [pollutant type] in wastewater by [target amount, kg or percentage] by [target year], compared to a [baseline year] baseline.

Target Source: WBCSD target template

Metric assessment

Relevance: Medium

Feasibility: Medium

Related Actions

Prevent pollution or contamination of water bodies

Prevent pollution or contamination of water bodies

Description

Additional Metric Notes

ACT-D stage: Assess Maturity stage: Developing Metric Contribution to Action: Monitoring pollutant concentrations in wastewater enables targeted reduction strategies and improves water quality compliance. It enables targeted interventions that advance both site and catchment-level water stewardship toward best practices through continuous system improvement. Observations/Sucesses/Challenges: > By breaking down pollutants by type, this metric helps to target specific areas of environmental concern, such as heavy metals, nutrients, or chemical contaminants. > Accurately measuring concentrations of various pollutants requires complex monitoring systems, frequent sampling, and robust laboratory analysis, which can be costly and resource-intensive. > Without clear baseline data, it’s difficult to assess whether pollutant concentrations are improving or worsening over time. > Measuring pollutant concentrations does not directly assess the overall ecological impact of those pollutants > Lack of specificity in pollutant types > Concentration data alone doesn’t provide enough information to assess whether the levels of pollutants are within acceptable limits or whether remediation actions are sufficient. > Effective use and communication of this metric depend on multi-stakeholder engagement to ensure data veracity, contextual relevance, and collective progress toward risk and impact mitigation.