Thinking holistically and out-of-the-box

Our actions influence our environment – on both a large and a small scale. Also in areas that we have never even thought of. In this article, we see how the use of medical drugs troubles local water suppliers and consider a question that has never been seriously asked: Why can the operators of sewage treatment plants be pleased about the increasing use of prebiotics?

It is widely known that antibiotics aggravate the problem of resistance in our food chain. We also know that the hormone residues of women using birth control pills eventually reach our waters and disturb the fertility of water animals in the long run. The latest measures show that drug residues can be detected extensively all year round in running waters, but also in soil and groundwater. Currently, over 150 different medicinal substances can be detected in our environment. Many of them harbour another danger: some substances do not degrade, but on the contrary, react with other environmental substances. Yet, nobody knows about the effects of these complexes. Even using comprehensive cleaning procedures, sewage works are not able to filter all drug residues. The water management claims that environmental elimination should already play a role in the development and approval of a drug – and we gladly support this claim.

Bacteria that reach the sewage works via our excretion and sewage systems are a different issue. Sludge is an ecological biotope on its own. The composition and interaction of bacteria are essential to sewage systems because bacteria stimulate the degradation, modification, and elimination of our residues. The optimal composition of bacteria for sewage technology constitutes an important – although little-known – research focus.

Many lactobacilli that colonize the human bowel were first identified in sludge. These good, revered lactobacteria are not only beneficial for our intestines, but they are also very welcome in sewage works. For example, the anaerobic germs improve the biodegeneration of sewage sludge and stimulate the biological disinfection of pathogenic germs – actually, exactly like in our bowels.

Epidemiological information is also hidden in sewage sludge. The current health status of a population can be inferred from the amount and type of pathogenic germs. One could imagine monitoring as well as early warning systems. The latest methods for genetic sequencing might also provide different perspectives. This is how new types of viruses have already been detected. Big Data in unusual places.

Whether or not we as individuals influence the bacterial colonization of a sewage plant through increased use of prebiotics and an improved microbiome is anyone’s guess, but the microbial modification of a large part of the population could have a positive effect on the composition of lactobacilli of our sewage sludge.