Pharmaceutical pollution in the water environment is an internationally recognised public health and environmental issue. Pollution arises across the pharmaceutical lifecycle, including from prescribing, use, disposal, and wastewater treatment. To comply with evolving regulations, the healthcare and water sectors face mounting pressures to improve practices, reduce costs, and deliver environmental sustainability targets.

Pharmaceutical Reduction in the Environment through Sustainable Healthcare (PhRESHWater) will apply a One Health systems-based approach bringing together cross-sector researchers and practitioners to deliver targeted innovation at multiple stages of the pharmaceutical lifecycle.

The project is built around four interconnected work packages:

Risk Modelling: Establish a systems-based model to identify pollution hotspots across 40 Scottish catchments, using prescribing, environmental monitoring, and wastewater treatment data.

Behaviour Change: Co-develop recommendations for prescriber and public awareness and actions to support environmentally informed prescribing and disposal.

Pollution Reduction: Evaluate interventions to reduce high risk pharmaceuticals entering the environment, including testing novel treatment technologies to enhance pharmaceutical removal in wastewater.

One Health Integration: Apply a One Health framework to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and shared decision-making tools to enable coordinated cross-sector action.

PhRESHWater builds on a strong foundation of collaboration through the One Health Breakthrough Partnership (OHBP), which unites Scottish researchers, public agencies, and policymakers in addressing pharmaceutical pollution and provides a robust platform for co-designing project activity.

The project will generate new evidence, tools, and resources to support coordinated action on pharmaceutical pollution, helping to safeguard environmental and human health while enabling the healthcare and water sectors to meet sustainability goals.