Image description: A child standing on a paddleboard wearing a green safety jacket and brightly-coloured swimming trunks. Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
The deterioration of water quality in the UK’s largest lake now threatens to intersect with another public health crisis, the rise of bacteria resistant to antibiotics, the so called ‘Superbugs’.
As reported in the Guardian, genes capable of creating antibiotic-resistant superbugs have been detected in Lough Neagh, which supplies drinking water to about 40% of Northern Ireland. Or, as an un-named water expert was quoted in the article; “Forty per cent of Northern Ireland are drinking water from a fetid pond filled with bacteria from human and animal waste, and now, unsurprisingly, there are [antimicrobial resistance] AMR genes.”
The rising threat of Antimicrobial Resistance world-wide
The Guardian article highlights the World Health Organisation (WHO) warning that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is “one of the most urgent, complex and frightening health challenges of our time”, with deaths due to AMR infections rising worldwide.
AMR occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites no longer respond to antimicrobial medicines. This leads to antibiotics and other antimicrobial medicines becoming ineffective due to drug resistance and infections becoming difficult or impossible to treat, which in turn increases the risk of disease spread, severe illness, disability and death.
The key source of these AMR genes in the Lough is thought to be a combination of untreated sewage and slurry run-off from the farms surrounding the Lough.
Samples taken by Watershed Investigations and the Guardian found resistance genes spanning a range of antibiotic classes, from common penicillins to “last-resort” carbapenems, as well as quinolones, macrolides, aminoglycosides and cephalosporins, which are used to treat pneumonia and other serious infections. Genes resistant to tetracycline, widespread in livestock, were also present.
Will Gaze, a professor of microbiology at the University of Exeter quoted in the article, shared particular concern regarding carbapenems AMR, because they are “the last-line-of-defence antibiotics … only used when other treatments have failed”.
Samples from a designated bathing-water area on the lough were also affected. According to Gaze, swimmers who swallow just 30 ml of water could have significant exposure to carbapenem-resistance genes, with unknown consequences for their gut microbiome or risk of infection.
Northern Ireland Water and Daera’s response to the investigation – lacking resources & funding
Northern Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Daera) minister, Andrew Muir, reportedly said more than 20m tonnes of untreated sewage spilled into the country’s waterways each year. About 30% of Northern Ireland Water’s storm overflows spill raw sewage into Lough Neagh, 106 directly and 618 indirectly via rivers. The Guardian reports that this figure is likely to be even greater.
In response to the Guardian’s investigation, a Northern Ireland Water spokesperson acknowledged “decades of underinvestment”, saying the company had been left with “very limited scope for upgrades” and that only a “permanent, sustainable investment plan” would close the long-term funding gap.
The Guardian article points to governance failures exposed by the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog, which found Northern Ireland lacked an environmental regulator free from government influence. A source within Daera reportedly described collapsed morale within the Northern Ireland Environment Agency. “They’re not allowed to talk, to breathe, to do their jobs. They’re not supposed to prosecute agriculture or take Northern Ireland Water to court, despite so many wastewater works being beyond capacity.”
The Guardian also reports that Northern Ireland Water has largely avoided prosecution since 2007, when an agreement was signed limiting regulators’ ability to pursue the company, however Muir withdrew that agreement on 3 March this year.
The Guardian highlights that Muir has also attempted to establish an independent environmental regulator, but the proposal was blocked at Stormont by the Democratic Unionist party (DUP). The aforementioned Daera source alleged that because DUP’s support base is significantly made up of farmers, agriculture likely held significant political influence.
“Antimicrobial resistance is an urgent global challenge and evidence has been found in Northern Ireland’s aquatic environments, including Lough Neagh,” said Muir, adding that there were plans for more testing. “Restoring and protecting the ecological health of Lough Neagh cannot be overstated and work is under way on the Lough Neagh action plan.”
AMR E.coli found in Lake Windermere
Last August a seven-year-old boy who kayaked on lake windermere nearly died after contracting a dangerous strain of AMR E coli from contaminated water.
Claire Earley’s son Rex spent six weeks in hospital and underwent two emergency operations.
Rex contracted the same strain of E coli as nine-year-old Heather Preen, who died in 1999 after swimming in Devon and was featured in the recent Channel 4 drama Dirty Business, which covered the sewage scandal that has damaged UK waterways as the result of a lack of investment and maintenance since the industry was privatised.
Rex’s family and campaigners are calling for real-time pollution alerts to be carried out across the lake, which welcomes seven million visitors a year and generates £750m for the local economy.
Without urgent action, the WHO warns, drug-resistant infections could claim 39 million lives worldwide by 2050 and impose an annual economic burden of up to $412bn (£307bn).