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Deltares, spring 2020 23 THE EXPERTS Eline Toes (on the left) is a policy advisor on 'Water and Soil' at the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. She is one of the founders of SOILveR, a new European network for developing and sharing knowledge about soil and groundwater. Hilde Passier leads the programme for the environmental quality of water and soil at Deltares. Other projects relating to emerging substances where Deltares plays a role include theWater Quality Knowledge Impulse, Emission Registration in the Netherlands, and the European GeoERA project. Together with consortiumpartners BRGM, RIVM, ISSEP, Arcadis and Witteveen+Bos (both in Flanders), Deltares is working on the SOILveR project emerging compounds in soil and groundwater. the speed at which new substances are coming onto themarket means that we lack a complete picture. And we don't knowwhat the risks are of exposure to combinations of substances.' establish how one substance group behaves, we hope we can establish parallels with others.' The results can also be used to deter­ mine whether the current system of directives is adequate or whether additional European or national regu- lations are needed. 'Initially, SOILveR's principal job will be to build up a joint and transparent knowledge base and to share this knowledge so that we have the arguments needed to put emerging substances on the agenda,' explains Toes. And Passier says she hopes that this knowledge will be re- flected in policy. What is SOILveR? The members of the funding platform SOILver believe in joint knowledge de- velopment and exchange within Europe and they form a content-driven and long- term network. They see added value in shared coordination, co-financing and the dissemination of cross-border know- ledge about soil and land management. The platformmembers are committed to enabling and sharing integrated multi­ disciplinary research. That means they respond to knowledge needs identified in the H2020 INSPIRATION, strategic research agenda 'soil and land use'. The SOILveR platform currently consists of seven members from France, Belgium (Wallonia and Flanders), the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark. SOILveR is open to new members who want to join their network and subscribe to their mission: SOILver from knowledge to solutions - A Platform for European knowledge development and knowledge exchange on soil and land management. You can also send an email to: info@soilver.eu Why is research in this area withmore European countries important? Eline Toes: 'It's more effective to con- duct studies with several countries than if the Netherlands does it alone: we get more expertise on board. You can do more if you combine forces in terms of content. But putting practical issues aside, it's also inspiring to see how other European researchers work and how our fellow-policymakers in other countries tackle these issues from the perspective of the soil and groundwater system. It also gives us the chance to share the knowledge we have in the Netherlands.' And, on top of all that, substances don't respect national borders: they travel to other areas in water and on the air. Toes: 'That's why it's better to tackle this issue at the European level. And there's another factor: if coun- tries introduce their own regulations, companies can evade restrictions by relocating. Because the problems transcend national borders and be- cause of economic considerations, that is obviously undesirable.' What is the European network expected to deliver? From June 2020 onwards, the re- searchers will work for a year on a tool that identifies the substances of most concern, focusing on soil and groundwater. The new information will allow policymakers, politicians, researchers, water and soil managers to make better decisions about what follow-up steps are required. Toes: 'A tool of this kind helps to eliminate the major uncertainties. What should we concentrate on first?' But with so many substances requi- ring investigation, Deltares doesn't want to raise expectations too high. It is impossible for researchers to iden- tify tens of thousands of substances in a single year. Passier: 'If we can For more information