EU LIFE - Innovative nature based solutions for the elimination of nutrients and veterinary pharmaceuticals from livestock agricultural runoff

Chemical pollution of surface water and groundwater leads to deterioration in quality that restricts its use as drinking, irrigation, and animal drinking water, and impacts their environmental functions. While some chemical contaminants have been of concern for years, there are also a range of “emerging” threats. Livestock farming on open pastures poses a significant environmental burden from antibiotics, hormones, disinfectants, insect control agents, parasite control, and cleaning products. Inputs in open pastures, often around animal housing, are uncontrolled discharges into the environment. Moreover, the interactions of many of these substances with animal gut bacteria can elevate the amount and persistence of antibiotic resistance in bacteria in the environment, which may then be transferable to animal and human pathogens. The LIFE4FARMS project uses an innovative and recently developed Nature-Based Solution (NBS) to eliminate pharmaceutical and antibiotic residues and reduce transposable resistance genes from livestock sources. Moreover, treated water can be reused in livestock production, irrigation, and recharge, reducing farming demands for scarce water resources. The goal is to prevent nutrient and contaminant migration from land to surface and seawater. This integrated system (Wet4Agro) is an integrated constructed wetland system approach, combining strategic water drainage design, mechanical pretreatment, vertical filter, and the wetland. In parallel, the project will support advances in regulatory approaches by promoting the technology Wet4Agro, which offers robust, lowmaintenance, and sustainable agricultural water treatment for livestock production. It breaks the pathway from livestock sources to humans and aquatic ecology for drugs and drug resistance via water. The project also brings a range of broader sustainability benefits: from building wetland habitats and refuges for essential species, reducing inputs of N, P, and pharmaceuticals to surface waters, local water reclamation to support the circular economy, improving water resources and the aquatic environment, including coastal areas, improving the quality of life for communities and creating opportunities for economic growth, for example by improving (maintaining) the water quality of rivers and lakes and coastal seas. Preevaluation by the Ministry of the Environment of the Czech Republic has found this project to be of exceptional quality, and they have recommended it for co-financing.