Efforts to address the challenge posed by antimicrobial resistance to the water industry

The request was successful.

Dear Scottish Water,

I would be most grateful if you could respond to the following request for information:

Are there any activities you have initiated since 2019 in response to the challenge posed by antimicrobial resistance in wastewater and/or specifically in response to the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial Resistance? (link to the gov't doc here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio... )

For clarity, these activities could include (but aren't limited to):
1) Better understand how AMR spreads between and among humans, animals and the environment
2) Minimise spread of AMR through the environment
3) Develop an improved evidence base on AMR in the environment
4) To deepen understanding about AMR in the environment
5) Minimise antimicrobial contamination

Many thanks for your time in considering this request. It is greatly appreciated.

Yours faithfully,
Dr. Andrew Singer

UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Wallingford OX10 8BB

FOI, Scottish Water

Dear Sir / Madam,

Thanks for getting in touch with Scottish Water.
We have opened a new case CAS-1904081-N2L6H in response to your email and
assigned it our FOI.
Should you need to follow up on this case, please contact us with
reference CAS-1904081-N2L6H.
Thank you,

 FOI 
Scottish Water
Web - [1]www.scottishwater.co.uk

[2]twitter.com/scottish_water [3]Logo gap[4]facebook.com/scottishwater 

Scottish Water
Trusted to Serve Scotland

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Scottish Water

[5]www.scottishwater.co.uk

References

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2. https://twitter.com/scottish_water
4. http://www.facebook.com/scottishwater
5. http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/

FOI, Scottish Water

Dear Dr. Singer,  

Freedom of Information Request - efforts to address the challenge posed by
antimicrobial resistance to the water industry

Thank you for your email of 13 July 2022 that I have logged under the
above reference number. We will respond to your request in accordance with
the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs) no later
than 11 August 2022.
 
We will endeavour to get a response to you as soon as we can.
 
If you have any queries regarding your FOI request please feel free to
contact me quoting the above reference number, and I will be happy to
assist.

Yours sincerely 
 
Lidia Niemczuk-Greer
FOI Officer
M:07501471924
D: 01414830151
Scottish Water – Trusted to serve Scotland

Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this Email and any
files transmitted with it. If you are not the intended recipient you
should not retain, copy or use this Email for any purpose or disclose all
or part of its contents to any person. If you have received this Email in
error please notify the sender immediately and delete this Email from your
system.

Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not
relate to the official business of Scottish Water ("SW"), Scottish Water
Horizons Ltd ("SWH"),Scottish Water International Ltd ("SWI") or Scottish
Water Solutions 2 Ltd ("SWS2") shall be understood as neither given nor
endorsed by them. The contents of Emails sent and received by SW, SWH, SWI
and SWS2 are monitored.

WARNING: Although SW, SWH, SWI and SWS2 have taken reasonable precautions
to ensure no viruses or other malicious software are present, SW, SWH, SWI
and SWS2 cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this Email or attachments however caused. The recipient should
therefore check this Email and any attachments for the presence of viruses
or other malicious software.

Scottish Water

[1]www.scottishwater.co.uk

References

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FOI, Scottish Water

1 Attachment

Dear Dr. Singer,  

Thank you for your request for information.

As the information you have requested is ‘environmental information’ for
the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
(EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations.
We have therefore applied the exemption contained in section 39(2) of
FOISA and we have dealt with your request for environmental information
under the EIRs alone.

Your request for information was for the following:
Are there any activities you have initiated since 2019 in response to the
challenge posed by antimicrobial resistance in wastewater and/or
specifically in response to the National Action Plan on Antimicrobial
Resistance?

The overall responsibility for co-ordination of the actions associated
with the AMR Action Plan sits with the Scottish Government.  As such they
have established the AMR in the Environment in Scotland Group (AESS) under
the Chief Nursing Officer in Scotland.  This group has representatives
from various departments in the Scottish Government, Scottish Water, SEPA
and Public Health Scotland.  John Redshaw at SEPA would be a key contact
for more detail on this group and its direction.

Scottish Water is a founding partner of the One Health Breakthrough
Partnership (OHBP) with SEPA and NHS Highland.  OHBP launched the
[1]Pharmaceuticals in the Water Environment data visualisation tool in
June 2022. This is the first open-access interactive tool in the UK to
combine national prescribing data and data on pharmaceuticals in the
environment (building on the baseline [2]CREW report and database). This
tool can be used to better understand the link between medicine use and
pharmaceutical occurrence in the water environment. This uses information
from CIP Scotland and other studies across Scotland to identify the
occurrence of pharmaceuticals in wastewater and in the environment.  It is
hosted on the SEPA website and will be updated as data becomes available
and along with the publicly available prescription information.

Scottish Water has commissioned a PhD with Napier University, jointly
funded by Medical Research Council, to explore and map AMR in the water
environment.  This project initially started pre-covid but students left
during the lockdown.  Project to re-start with a new student in October
22. 

Scottish Water is exploring through the research and innovation programme,
alternative advanced biosolids treatment (gasification or pyrolysis) to
produce an enhanced resource for agriculture that reduces the risk of AMR.

CREW (Centre of Expertise for Waters) produced a policy briefing report on
AMR focusing on technologies to monitor AMR and to minimise the impact
[3]Antimicrobial Resistance in Scotland’s Waters - Status and Solutions |
CREW | Scotland's Centre of Expertise for Waters

Please also see the link to the promotional video from OHBP [4]Get smart
with Antibiotics - YouTube

If you have any queries regarding your FOI request please feel free to
contact me and I will be happy to assist. You can do this by contacting
the following email address [5][email address].

You can seek a review of this response within forty working days and
thereafter appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

Further information on the appeals procedure can be obtained from the
attached document and the Commissioner's website at
[6]www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Lidia Niemczuk-Greer
FOI Officer
M:07501 471924
D: 01414830151
Scottish Water – Trusted to serve Scotland

The information disclosed to you is prepared for Scottish Water's internal
purposes only and in relation to Scottish Water's operational requirements
at the time of preparation of the disclosed information. Scottish Water
accepts no responsibility or liability for any use of, or reliance upon,
the disclosed information, howsoever arising. Scottish Water hereby gives
notice that the disclosed information, represents the opinion/ position/
forecast/ analysis/evaluations/projections/views/situation at a point in
time and the aforementioned
opinion/position/forecast/analysis/evaluations/projections/views/situation
may become outdated/inaccurate/incomplete within a short space of time
after the date of the disclosed information being compiled. Apart from
compliance with intellectual property laws (dealt with below), any use of
the disclosed information is entirely at your own risk and no warranty is
given in relation to fitness for any particular purpose, accuracy or
completeness.

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION GIVES YOU A RIGHT TO READ THE INFORMATION FOR YOUR
PERSONAL USE. THE DISCLOSED INFORMATION MAY CONTAIN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
RIGHTS, SUCH AS COPYRIGHT. ACCORDINGLY, IF YOU WANT TO RE-USE THE
INFORMATION, YOU SHOULD ENSURE THAT YOU HAVE RELEVANT PERMISSIONS TO DO SO
FROM THE OWNERS OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS.
 

Privileged/Confidential information may be contained in this Email and any
files transmitted with it. If you are not the intended recipient you
should not retain, copy or use this Email for any purpose or disclose all
or part of its contents to any person. If you have received this Email in
error please notify the sender immediately and delete this Email from your
system.

Opinions, conclusions and other information in this message that do not
relate to the official business of Scottish Water ("SW"), Scottish Water
Horizons Ltd ("SWH"),Scottish Water International Ltd ("SWI") or Scottish
Water Solutions 2 Ltd ("SWS2") shall be understood as neither given nor
endorsed by them. The contents of Emails sent and received by SW, SWH, SWI
and SWS2 are monitored.

WARNING: Although SW, SWH, SWI and SWS2 have taken reasonable precautions
to ensure no viruses or other malicious software are present, SW, SWH, SWI
and SWS2 cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this Email or attachments however caused. The recipient should
therefore check this Email and any attachments for the presence of viruses
or other malicious software.

Scottish Water

[7]www.scottishwater.co.uk

References

Visible links
1. https://informatics.sepa.org.uk/Environm...
2. https://www.crew.ac.uk/publication/pharm...
3. https://www.crew.ac.uk/publication/antim...
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBJztG31...
5. mailto:[email address]
6. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal
7. http://www.scottishwater.co.uk/