This data set comprises water quality data from five tributaries of the River Thames, UK. Sampling sites at each river were from both upstream and downstream of sewage effluent point sources. Parameters measured were phosphorus and nitrogen species, dissolved organic carbon and major dissolved anions (fluoride, chloride, sulphate). This work was carried out as a part of the NERC project: “The environmental REsistome: confluence of Human and Animal Biota in antibiotic resistance spread (REHAB)” (Project reference NE/N019660/1). Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/80710d5e-06cf-4757-93c5-87fcbe421352

This resource holds survival data of human pathogens bound to microplastics during transfer through the freshwater-marine continuum. The survival of Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonising polyethylene or glass particles was quantified in mesocosm incubation experiments designed to simulate, (1) the direct release of microplastics from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) into freshwater and seawater environments; and (2) the movement of microplastics downstream following discharge from the WWTP through the river-estuary-marine-beach continuum. Background bacterial concentrations and crystal violet were also measured. Full details about this nonGeographicDataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/c31c0b2a-ee5b-479f-84c3-ff1b0bfc6d84