The extensive detection of hazardous substances in wastewater discharges of the industry requires a concerted combination of chemical and biological analyses beyond those established in the German Wastewater Ordinance or any other European water regulation/legislation. For this reason, an emission-oriented assessment strategy for hazardous substances in industrial wastgewater discharges (Industrieal Discharge Assessment, IDA) was developed, which covers the hazard parameters persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity and links them experimentally.