Water Quality and Health
Policy: Water Framework Directive, Drinking Water Directive, Water, Wastewater and Drainage
Science: drinking water, waste water, human & environmental health, epidemiology and contaminants.
CREW's Water Quality and Health theme focusses on providing high quality science knowledge regarding drinking water, wastewater, human & environmental health, epidemiology, and contaminants.
The projects undertaken within this theme inform policy and regulation areas including Drinking Water Directive review, Drinking Water Supplies, and Public Health.
Improved understanding of the interrelationships (e.g., sources, distribution, and risks) between water quality and human/environmental health will lead to better informed policy decisions.
Recent research within this thematic area includes:
- A capacity building project 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. Using a Substance Mapping approach, including literature review, an expert survey and a knowledge sharing workshop, the project found that based on evidence encountered, no CIC groups can be discounted for Scotland and significant data gaps exist on sources, pathways, exposure routes, hazard and risk.
- A capacity building project developing risk assessment approaches for parameters in the recast Drinking Water Directive, to be incorporated into legislation in 2023. This project delivered timely knowledge on monitoring and risk assessment approaches for watchlist contaminants in drinking water supplies in Scotland.
Coming soon: A follow-on Call Down project will synthesise available evidence around potential sources, pathways, and fate of PFAS not currently named in the recast Drinking Water regulations that may be found in Scottish drinking water sources.
