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Persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) substances have recently garnered increased attention by environmental researchers, the water sector and environmental protection agencies. In this study, acute and chronic species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) were retrieved from literature data for previously quantified contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in Swedish surface waters (n = 92) and risk quotients (RQ) were calculated. To better understand the characteristics of the detected CECs in non-urban lake sites (n = 71), these compounds were checked against established criteria for potentially toxic PMs (PM(T)s) and occurrence in the aquatic environment, respectively. For the CECs with missing SSDs (n = 15 [acute], n = 41 [chronic]), ecotoxicity data were extracted for eight taxonomic groups, and if data were sufficient (n ≥ 3), SSDs were derived. The retrieved and newly developed SSDs were then used in an environmental hazard assessment (EHA) in the investigated Swedish rivers and lakes. In the rivers, 8 CECs had RQ> 1 in at least one location, and 20 CECs posed a moderate risk (0.01 < RQ < 1). In total, 21 of the 71 detected substances had already been identified as PM(T)/vPvM substances. Our study shows the importance of studying field data at large spatial scale to reveal potential environmental hazards far from source areas., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) are a concern in aquatic environments due to possible adverse effects on the environment and humans. This study assessed the occurrence and mass flows of CECs in Sweden's three largest lakes and 24 associated rivers. The occurrence and distribution of 105 CECs was investigated, comprising 71 pharmaceuticals, 13 perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), eight industrial chemicals, four personal care products (PCPs), three parabens, two pesticides, and four other CECs (mostly anthropogenic markers). This is the first systematic study of CECs in Sweden's main lakes and one of the first to report environmental concentrations of the industrial chemicals tributyl citrate acetate and 2,2'-dimorpholinyldiethyl-ether. The ∑CEC concentration was generally higher in river water (31-5200 ng/L; median 440 ng/L) than in lake water (36-900 ng/L; median 190 ng/L). At urban lake sites, seasonal variations were observed for PCPs and parabens, and also for antihistamines, antidiabetics, antineoplastic agents, antibiotics, and fungicides. The median mass CEC load in river water was 180 g/day (range 4.0-4300 g/day), with a total mass load of 5000 g/day to Lake Vänern, 510 g/day to Lake Vättern, and 5600 g/day to Lake Mälaren. All three lakes are used as drinking water reservoirs, so further investigations of the impact of CECs on the ecosystem and human health are needed., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)