CREW’s Water Quality and Health theme focusses on providing high quality science knowledge regarding:
- Water, wastewater and drainage
- Human and environmental health
- Epidemiology
- Contaminants in the environment
The projects undertaken within this theme support policy and regulation areas including:
- Drinking Water Directive
- Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive
- Water Framework Directive
- One Health Framework
Recent research published within this thematic area includes:
• Emerging contaminants: informing Scotland’s strategic monitoring and policy approaches to substances of increasing concern - the aim of this project was to inform, prioritise, and coordinate actionable monitoring and policy-based approaches to identify, assess, and mitigate risks from substances of increasing concern to Scotland’s water environment.
• Mitigating climate change impacts on the water quality of Scottish standing waters - this project explored adaptive strategies to mitigate climate change impacts on Scottish standing waters, focusing on reducing the likelihood of worsening algal blooms as water temperatures continue to rise.
• Projects advancing risk assessment and source characterisation of PFAS and contaminants in Scottish drinking water supplies: Developing risk assessment approaches for PFAS and watch list parameters under the recast Drinking Water Directive and PFAS in drinking water supplies: A review of source, pathway, and fate for selected compounds.
Key legacy projects published within this thematic area include:
- 2020 – 2022 - Advancing Wastewater-Based Surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 – the following three projects advanced SARS-CoV-2 wastewater monitoring in Scotland, refining variant detection, exploring near-source aerosol sampling, and evaluating extraction methods. Findings inform future public health surveillance and pandemic preparedness. SARS-CoV-2 monitoring in Scottish wastewater: Variant Detection – FAIR data Outputs and Lessons Learned; Aerosol/droplet sampling of wastewater for SARS-CoV-2; Tracking SARS-CoV-2 via Municipal Wastewater.
- 2021 and 2025 update - These two projects developed the Scottish One Health AMR Register, mapping AMR research in Scotland to the UK Action Plan. Findings highlighted strengths in animal health and infection control but gaps in translational research. Scottish One Health AMR Register (SOHAR) 2021; Scottish One Health AMR Register (SOHAR): Updated research insights 2025
- 2022 - Reducing Pharmaceutical Pollution in Scotland – these two projects assessed pharmaceutical pollution in Scotland, identifying key medicines of concern and barriers to eco-directed prescribing. A three-pronged framework is proposed to integrate environmental criteria into healthcare and reduce pollution: Environmentally informed pharmaceutical prescribing in Scotland; Pharmaceuticals in the water environment: baseline assessment and recommendations.
- 2025 - A review of psychoactive substances wastewater monitoring approaches and recommendations for the feasibility of applying different approaches in Scotland. This project explored the feasibility of leveraging Scotland’s existing wastewater monitoring infrastructure to enhance early warning systems like RADAR and support public health initiatives. A follow-on project explored the Utility of wastewater surveillance for detecting and monitoring emerging and re-emerging pathogens and endemic infections.