Primary Objective: To develop a multi-disciplinary network to determine which of the current challenges related to wastewater reuse are the most concerning ones in relation to public health and environmental protection, and how these can be overcome.

  • Deliver best-practice advice to practitioners and disseminate unbiased perspectives of scientific knowledge to decision makers/public
  • Develop uniform means for assessing the quality of the wastewater in respect to contaminants of emerging concern and also antibiotic-resistant bacteria and/or their genes (ARB&ARGs)
  • Develop specs and standards for technologies able to produce wastewater safe for reuse and guidelines for specific parameters to be assessed
  • Determine what information is valid and reliable to be used in regulatory frameworks (e.g. Water Framework and Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive and for any other relevant Environmental Quality Standards policy framework)
  • Enhance and valorize wastewater reuse, contributing to European scientific and technological excellence, to the society and economy
  • Develop uniform means for assessing the quality of the wastewater in respect to contaminants of emerging concern and also ARB&ARGs
  • Understand the biological impact of various contaminants of emerging concern including ARB&ARGs, once released into the environment through wastewater reuse
  • Assess the potential of contaminants uptake by crops
  • Reveal the role of reuse in the evolution and spread of antibiotic resistance and assess the impact of different treatment processes on the dissemination of antibiotic resistance, aiming at the effective control and monitoring of the reuse practice

  • Facilitate and expedite interaction and exchange of ideas between different disciplines; for example chemistry, microbiology, engineering, epidemiology, toxicology, ecology, etc.
  • Develop new trans-disciplinary partnerships that will be vital to thoroughly understand the various complexities concerning the different disciplines involved
  • Identify and counteract weaknesses and knowledge gaps in environmental chemistry and microbiology/toxicology required for the above mentioned activities
  • Provide solid and state-of-the-art information to relevant companies in order to be able to design, develop and apply technologies able to tackle the current challenges
  • Facilitate the transfer of knowledge to the stakeholders, end-users and the wider public
  • Establish a network at the forefront of the relevant scientific and technological research
  • Serve as a forum for early-stage and young researchers to network, present results and obtain state-of-the-art knowledge
  • Generate original ideas for new research projects and collaborations
  • Keep European scientific community at the cutting edge of this interdisciplinary field of scientific and technological research