About WATERPATH

The growing production and use of chemicals exert significant pressure on aquatic ecosystems, compromising services such as drinking water and irrigation. Human activities release contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) and biological contamination into surface and groundwater from both point sources (e.g., wastewater treatment plants) and nonpoint sources (e.g., agriculture, tourism), ultimately impacting human health.

WATERPATH aims to provide regulators with comprehensive, up-to-date information on anthropic pressure on aquatic ecosystems exerted by chemical contamination and its role in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) across three model regions with diverse ecosystem services: continental (Romania), peninsular (Italy), and insular (Spain). The project supports EU environmental policies by contributing to updates of the European Priority and Monitoring Watch Lists as well as regional protection plans.

Through collaboration between academic partners, environmental agencies, and water management companies, WATERPATH will:

• Collect and analyse chemical CECs and their transformation products (TPs) using advanced non-targeted and targeted methods (LC-HRMS, Py-GC-MS).
• Assess antimicrobial resistance markers (ARB/ARGs) via metagenomics and cultivation techniques.
• Integrate chemical and biological datasets to map spatial and temporal trends, assess chemical and biological pressure impacting the ecosystem services.
• Test both high-tech (nanofiltration membranes) and nature-based solutions (biochar-enhanced constructed wetlands) to mitigate contamination, aligning with circular economy principles.

The outcome will be a robust, openly accessible database aligned with the implemented mitigation strategies, enabling more effective monitoring, management, and restoration of water quality under a “one-health” framework.