Freshwater OneHealth Alliance: Connecting Aquatic Ecosystem Services to Community Well-being (WAVE)

General Overview

The WAVE project establishes Europe's first integrated freshwater-health data infrastructure, connecting water quality monitoring with population health outcomes across four countries. By harmonising 14 years of environmental and health data (2010-2023) at a regional level, WAVE quantifies how clean rivers and lakes contribute to human well-being. The project delivers open-access data and tools for evidence-based One Health policy, ultimately enhancing water management and public health strategies in a changing climate.

Purpose and Significance

WAVE addresses the critical gap between water quality monitoring and health surveillance systems. While the EU Water Framework Directive mandates ecological monitoring and health authorities track disease patterns, these data streams rarely connect. This disconnect prevents water managers from demonstrating the health co-benefits of restoration investments and limits health authorities' ability to identify environmental risk factors for waterborne and chronic diseases.

Four EUniWell universities are contributing to this project, integrating expertise in aquatic ecology (University of Santiago de Compostela, Linnaeus University), public health (University of Cologne), and data science (University of Birmingham). The project advances EU One Health strategies and supports the Water Framework Directive's 4th River Basin Management Planning cycle (2027-2033), demonstrating how transnational collaboration can address urgent societal challenges at the intersection of environment and health.

Implementation Method and Timeline

WAVE focuses on systematic data integration, evidence synthesis, and stakeholder co-development. Key phases include:

• Project coordination and data management
• Integration of European environmental and health datasets
• Evidence mapping of water-health linkages
• Development of interactive visualisation tools
• Dissemination and policy engagement

The project runs from December 2025 to December 2026, with milestone reviews at Phase 1 completion (May 2026), evidence synthesis completion (October 2026), and final dissemination (December 2026).