Dangerous germs in streams, rivers and lakes: There is no patent remedy!

Recently, the TV program "Dangerous germs in streams, rivers and lakes" was broadcast in the political magazine "Panorama - die Reporter". Produced by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), the February 6, 2018 broadcast is causing controversy in Germany. Otto Schaaf, president of the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA), in which German wastewater disposal companies are also organized, advocated for a more differentiated view of the reportag.

Antibiotic resistant germs

Wastewater treatment plants serve to protect people and the environment from diseases that would otherwise be caused by wastewater. Antibiotic-resistant germs have not yet been specifically removed. However, sewage treatment plants are by no means the only pathway through which antibiotic-resistant germs are introduced into water bodies. Important for the cases considered here are runoff from agricultural land and point sources such as hospitals.

"Particularly to be questioned is the excessive, preventive use of antibiotics, in part also of reserve antibiotics, in intensive animal husbandry," emphasizes "Dangerous germs in streams, rivers and lakes," which the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) produced and broadcast on February 6, 2018 in its political magazine "Panorama - die Reporter." "There is no patent remedy. However, avoiding resistant germs can best be achieved at the source, that is, for example, in hospitals and intensive animal husbandry," says Otto Schaaf.

NDR rightly points out possible dangers from microorganisms that are resistant to antibiotics. As a solution, Panorama calls for the retrofitting of at least all larger sewage treatment plants, citing the Federal Environment Ministry and the Federal Environment Agency. This is because sewage treatment plants in Germany are not designed to remove multi-resistant pathogens from wastewater.

Retrofitting wastewater treatment plants alone is not a solution

The DWA considers this requirement - despite all the concern about antibiotic-resistant pathogens - to be critical because it is not suitable for solving the problem. Wastewater treatment plants are not the source of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, but are at the end of a chain of many development and spreading paths. The water experts are convinced that the solution must be found closer to the causes: the use of antibiotics. Antibiotics are used in human and veterinary medicine and in the agricultural industry.

Use antibiotics judiciously

Antibiotics should be used judiciously in human infections. This is a matter for doctors and patients alike. Antibiotics must be taken in accordance with the doctor's prescription and must not be discontinued prematurely by the patient without authorization. Residual medication that is no longer needed should be disposed of in the residual waste garbage can and under no circumstances in the toilet or sink.

Do away with the use of antibiotics in agriculture

In agriculture, especially intensive livestock farming, but also aquaculture, the mass, often preventive use of antibiotics is to be abandoned. In particular, the use of reserve antibiotics, which are intended to serve as an "iron reserve" in the event of serious illness, should be restricted. "The overuse of antibiotics in factory farming facilities is a major cause of the development of resistance to antibiotics. In the interest of their own health as well, the agricultural industry should exercise restraint here. Once antibiotic-resistant bacteria have reached the water cycle, it is too late. However, the blame for this cannot be placed on the sewage treatment plants," says Otto Schaaf.

Given the multiple pathways of antibiotics and microorganisms from large-scale stables into the environment, retrofitting wastewater treatment plants, for example with UV irradiation equipment, would be far from sufficient to solve the problem. Schaaf: "Instead of downstream measures, end of the pipe, we have to start at the point of use. It would also be positive if it were possible to develop active pharmaceutical ingredients that degrade themselves in the environment through natural processes after passing through the organism. This is not a dream of the future. Promising approaches exist, for example, at the Institute for Sustainable Chemistry and Environmental Chemistry at the University of Lüneburg, headed by Professor Klaus Kümmerer."

Further research is necessary

As part of the project "Characterization, communication and minimization of risks from new pollutants and pathogens in the water cycle - TransRisk", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), research was conducted into the formation of resistance and it was established, among other things, that everyone can do something to help prevent it (www.transrisk-projekt.de). The DWA considers that further research is urgently needed both in the field of developing environmentally compatible antibiotics and in the field of process engineering for eliminating these substances. Source: www.dwa.de