CARe Organized Workshop on Sewage Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance
The workshop, “Sewage Surveillance of Antibiotic Resistance – New EU Requirements. How, When, and, Most Importantly, Why?” aimed to foster dialogue and share knowledge between various sectors of society in relation to the EU’s new requirements for sewage surveillance.
The workshop gathered more than forty participants from Scandinavia and included discussions and seven presentations. Attendees were primarily from academia, the health sector/healthcare, and not least the water/wastewater sector, all sharing an interest in what the EU’s new wastewater directive entails and how it should be implemented.
Key to establish purpose
The new EU directive clearly states that all member states will be required to set up sewage surveillance for antibiotic resistance within a few years. However, exactly how this should be carried out has not yet been determined. Several presentations and discussions during the workshop emphasized the importance of clearly defining the purpose behind this surveillance, as only then can an effective and informative monitoring framework be established.
Several treatment plants in Sweden will be affected
Anders Finnson from the Swedish water and wastewater association (Svenskt Vatten) and Susanne Tumlin from Gryaab (which operates the Ryaverket plant in Gothenburg) gave presentations clarifying that around twenty Swedish treatment plants will be affected by the EU’s new requirements for monitoring antibiotic resistance. Representatives from several treatment plants highlighted that there is considerable experience gained from the COVID-19 pandemic in contributing samples for monitoring purposes, but it must be specified exactly how the samples are to be analyzed and by whom.
The path forward to implementation
By bringing together authorities and other stakeholders from various parts of society, the workshop laid the groundwork for well-informed input, where multiple perspectives are considered, for the future process in which the EU will determine how the new directive should be implemented.
