Genesis | The DIADeM Interreg project
Taking medicine has become a harmless part of everyday life. However, it can make our rivers more vulnerable. The molecules consumed by humans and animals are discharged into wastewater, and although wastewater is treated at wastewater treatment plants, not all drug residues are eliminated.
Between 2017 and 2020, the DIADeM consortium, or ‘Développement d'une approche intégrée pour le diagnostic de la qualité des eaux de la Meuse’, aimed to diagnose the quality of the waters of the Meuse using an active biomonitoring approach involving the encagement of sentinel species. The DIADeM project had two major objectives:
- To measure the effect of a cocktail of drugs on populations in the ecosystems of the Meuse and its tributaries (assessment of the dose at which it becomes toxic for the development of species and prediction of long-term effects on aquatic environments).
- To develop methodological tools for watercourse managers in order to improve the diagnosis of the quality of water bodies.
DIADeM has shown that using an active biomonitoring approach with several sentinel species improves the diagnosis of aquatic systems. When exposed to contaminants, these species can undergo biological transformations at cellular and molecular levels that can affect reproduction, immunity, the nervous system and so on. To detect these changes, scientists measure biomarkers, such as proteins or hormones, which act as alarm signals about the state of health of species before toxicity has an impact on ecosystem populations.
The research focused on five representative species of the Meuse and its tributaries: the rainbow trout, the three-spined stickleback, the gammare, the dreissène (a mussel) and the fontinale moss. They have been the subject of research in controlled environments (aquariums), semi-controlled environments (artificial rivers or mesocosms) and natural environments (rivers) by means of commitments upstream and downstream of wastewater treatment plants. This provision has made it possible to assess the impact of wastewater treatment plant discharges on sentinel species.
DIADeM results
- 6 methodological guides and a multi-species encagement approach.
- Around ten scientific articles and an exhibition for the general public comprising more than 20 panels: ‘The health of our rivers: at risk?
- Closer collaboration between URCA, the University of Namur, the University of Liège and various water stakeholders in France and Wallonia.
