Plant protection products, human and veterinary pharmaceuticals, biocides and other chemicals can reach surface waters during their life cycles, by direct or diffuse entry routes or because they are in completely removed during waste water treatment. These chemicals may have harmful consequences for environmental organisms and also constitute a risk for raw water contamination for drinking water production. It is therefore crucial to assess persistence of chemicals in laboratory experiments. To characterize persistence in surface waters two test guidelines are relevant: OECD Test Guideline 308 ("Aerobic and Anaerobic Transformation in Aquatic Sediment Systems"), which aims to derive information on biotransformation at a water-sediment interface, and OECD Test Guideline 309 ("Aerobic mineralization in surface water - Simulation biodegradation test"), which measures biotransformation in a pelagic water body. The aim of the project was to be better able to separate characterizing biotransformation from the process of sorption. For this purpose, modified test designs and alternative evaluation of kinetic data were explored.