When you think of river pollution, visions of plastic bottles and packaging are likely to come to mind.
But a new study has warned that almost half of the world’s rivers are also full of prescription drugs.
York University researchers found unsafe levels of drugs, including antidepressants, antihistamines and painkillers, at 43.5% of 1,052 sites tested in 104 countries.
“Our results show that a very high proportion of rivers worldwide are threatened by pharmaceutical pollution,” said study co-author Alejandra Bouzas-Monroy.
“We should therefore do much more to reduce the emissions of these substances into the environment.”
Nearly half of the world’s rivers are full of over-the-counter and prescription drugs, a new study has warned. Pictured: a river in Nairobi
York University researchers found unsafe levels of drugs, including antidepressants, antihistamines and painkillers, at 43.5% of 1,052 sites tested in 104 countries.
More than 100,000 tons of pharmaceuticals are consumed worldwide each year, according to the European Environmental Bureau (EEB).
During their production, use and disposal, pharmaceutical drugs are released into rivers, where they can have adverse effects on organisms, including fish and aquatic plants.
In the study, the team set out to understand the extent of this pharmaceutical pollution in the world.
“This is the first truly global assessment of the impacts of single pharmaceuticals and mixtures of pharmaceuticals in river systems,” Ms. Bouzas-Monroy said.
The team took water samples from 1,052 sites in 104 countries, including the UK, Australia, France and the US.
The results revealed that 43.5% of sites had “concerning” levels of 23 active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs).
This included substances from antidepressants, antimicrobials, antihistamines, benzodiazepines and painkillers.
The sites with the highest levels were located in Africa – with a river in Nairobi having the highest levels of all the sites, the researchers said.
“The locations with the highest mixing HQs were located in Africa and were primarily associated with three sampling campaigns (Lagos in Nigeria, Nairobi in Kenya and Bukavu in the Democratic Republic of Congo) where garbage disposal, points of sewage discharge, dumping of sewage raw materials by vacuum trucks, and pharmaceutical manufacturing activities were observed,” the researchers wrote.
In Asia the highest levels were in Lahore, in South America in La Paz and in Europe in Tubingen.
Worryingly, previous studies have shown how exposure to high levels of APIs can affect organisms, including fish and algae.
“For example, concentrations of antibiotics in surface waters have been shown to exceed the PNEC [predicted no‐effect concentrations] European and Chinese surface values,” the researchers explained.
“The anticonvulsant carbamazepine has been reported to occur at levels of concern for acute and chronic effects in fish, daphnids and algae in Africa, China and Israel.
In Asia the highest levels were in Lahore, in South America they were in La Paz and in Europe (map shown) they were in Tubingen, Germany.
“Stimulants have been highlighted as a group of concern in terms of aquatic impacts in Poland, Israel, China and Italy.”
The researchers hope their findings will encourage nations to take better action to tackle pharmaceutical pollution in rivers around the world.
“Overall, the results show that API pollution is a global problem that likely negatively affects the health of the world’s rivers,” the team concluded.
“Work is urgently needed to resolve the issue and bring concentrations down to an acceptable level.”
Worryingly, studies have shown that the presence of antibiotics in the environment contributes to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR), one of the major emerging threats to human health today.
“The burden of AMR in terms of lost lives, morbidity, healthcare costs and lost productivity is far greater than currently available statistics suggest – 25,000 deaths in 2007 – and projections estimate a 15% of AMR morbidity in Europe by 2050 with 390,000 deaths,” the EEB said.
