Next phase of the MicroDrink project launched in Serbia
The head of Eurofins’ laboratory was also featured in the national channel's on-site report
During the MicroDrink project, co-funded by the European Union and involving several countries in the Danube region, a harmonized sampling system was tested in Serbia. The sampling method, developed in part by Eurofins' Microplastics Testing Laboratory, and the subsequent laboratory testing, will give us a much more accurate picture of the microplastics content of our drinking water supplies and treatment plants.
One of the main objectives of the project is to build capacity and communicate good practices in the management of microplastics pollution, with the participation of eight countries (Croatia, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Hungary, Germany, Slovenia and Serbia) and 11 partner institutions from the Danube region. Eurofins participates in the MicroDrink project of the Interreg Danube Region Programme, co-financed by the European Union with financial contributions from partner countries and institutions, with sampling, knowledge transfer and laboratory testing of drinking water supplies and treatment plants (from source to tap).
A so-called harmonized sampling system was recently tested by the researchers in Serbia (in Versec and Staničenje, near Pirot), the event was reported by a national television station, and the head of Eurofins’ Microplastics Testing Laboratory, Dr Gábor Bordós, was also interviewed.
Our expert said that two filters of the same pore size were connected sequentially during sampling, with the second filter acting as a sampling control to determine the extent of any background contamination during sampling and testing. In the MicroDrink project, the sub-task including the above sampling is coordinated by Eurofins’ Budapest laboratory with the active involvement of the project partners. "The sampling and testing methodology was adapted to the regulations required by the EU Drinking Water Directive and the draft ISO standard that is being developed in this field was also taken into account", emphasized Gábor Bordós.
The harmonized sampling methodology was already tested in Hungary in Autumn 2024 during a joint sampling training with the project partners, and in 2025, every quarter, all project partners in the given country will collect raw and treated drinking water samples from different aquifers (karst, groundwater, bank filtered water) in the sample area using this sampling methodology.
Samples are tested by a local laboratory in each country, but duplicate samples are also tested by the Microplastics Testing Laboratory of Eurofins Environment Testing Hungary Kft. to gain more comprehensive experience of the samples and thus gain a better understanding of the challenges of sampling and testing microplastics in drinking water.
In Hungary, the strategic partners are the General Directorate of Water Management (OVF), the Hungarian Water Utility Association (MAVÍZ) and Fejérvíz Zrt.
"The aim is to gather the experience currently available on the topic of microplastics in all countries, to build a knowledge database, be it methodology or quantitative data, and to share the information gathered during the project widely with experts, researchers, professionals and standardization and legislation actors in the countries of the region," said Dr. Gábor Bordós, adding that starting from 2024, the laboratory of Eurofins has been testing microplastics in several environmental matrices: drinking water, wastewater, sewage sludge, sediments, air and soil samples, with accredited status. The laboratory's considerable and internationally recognized expertise accumulated over the past 6-8 years will be relied upon for sampling and testing during the project.