NORMAN Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria/Genes Database

Treated wastewater, sewage sludge and other solid matrices are increasingly identified as reliable alternative sources for a range of applications. Although the reuse practice is accompanied by a number of benefits, a number of questions are still open regarding the release of contaminants of emerging concern. Current open challenges include the spread of chemicals and biological contaminants (e.g. viral genetic material, antibiotic resistance genes and bacteria). The occurrence and the effects of these new type of contaminants is unknown.

The NORMAN ARB&ARGs database is an effort to aggregate information regarding the occurrence of these contaminants and associate their occurrence with organic contaminants of emerging concern. The data that will be contributed is expected to establish baseline concentration levels in wastewater intended for reuse and in other matrices. The database was initiated by the ITN MSCA ANSWER project (http://www.answer-itn.eu/) and was handed over to NORMAN association WG5.

Therefore, NORMAN ARB&ARG database is expected to support

1. automated prioritisation of biological risk factors
2. use of data in models for large scale projections
3. use of data for policy development
4. derivation of transparent science-based emission limit values (ELVs) for the target microcontaminants in matrices intended for reuse

How to submit data

The completed DCTs should be sent to the NORMAN ARB&ARG Database Team: Nikiforos Alygizakis (alygizakis@ei.sk), Despo Fatta-Kassinos (dfatta@ucy.ac.cy) and Jaroslav Slobodnik (slobodnik@ei.sk) with copy to Lian Lundy (L.Lundy@mdx.ac.uk) and Geneviève Deviller (genevieve.deviller@derac.eu) for quality check and upload to the web-database.

Should you use the ARB&ARG, please cite the platform using the URL https://www.norman-network.com/nds/bacteria/ and refer to the publication