Source · Select Committees · Environmental Audit Committee
Recommendation 5
5
Paragraph: 42
We recommend that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs commission, in...
Recommendation
We recommend that the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs commission, in conjunction with the devolved administrations, a UK-wide survey of emerging pollutants and microplastic pollution of river environments, including an assessment of their potential impact on aquatic ecology.
Paragraph Reference:
42
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The Government recognises the scale of the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the need to take concerted action across sectors to tackle it. In 2019, the Government published a ‘20-year Vision’ on AMR, in which resistance is effectively contained and controlled, and a five-year National Action Plan to tackle AMR within and beyond our own borders, to ensure progress towards the Vision. We agree it is important to reduce the AMR public health impact of sewage discharges and we are expanding our evidence base to inform our understanding and how to measure it. The Government recently established a £19m Pathogen Surveillance in Agriculture, Food and the Environment project which will strengthen our understanding of antimicrobial resistance in the environment, including the relative importance of different sources (including sewage overflows) and transmission routes. Defra and the Environment Agency are also engaging with the water companies’ Chemicals Investigation Programme which has a workstream focussed on assessing the possible contribution from water industry assets and releases (both effluent and sludges) to the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Improving our understanding of the prevalence of antimicrobial resistance in various stages of wastewater treatment will help manage the contribution from sewage overflows.