A wastewater treatment works (also referred to as water treatment plant) treats wastewater to make it clean and safe. The water it receives contains all sorts of substances, including antibiotic residues and resistant bacteria, which originate from the general public, healthcare facilities and even industry.
Resistant bacteria can survive in sewage sludge (used for fertiliser or biogas production) and in treated water (which is discharged into the environment and may be reused for other purposes).
These resistant bacteria can contaminate aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems and transmit their resistant genes to other bacteria in the environment, increasing the reservoir of resistant bacteria.
Solutions exist to limit the risk
- Improving wastewater treatment processes
By optimising the operations of biological treatment plants and introducing advanced treatment processes, using technologies such as ozonation, membrane filtration or advanced oxidation to eliminate antibiotic residues more effectively and to retain (i.e. prevent the release of) resistant bacteria. - Controlling sources of pollution
By managing and treating sewage sludge, as well as monitoring discharges and the aquatic environment itself. Following the revision of the EU Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (DERU2 in France) to be implemented in 2027, towns and cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants will be required to monitor antimicrobial resistance in urban effluents.