Pharmaceuticals have polluted almost all the world’s rivers

Pharmaceuticals have polluted almost all the world’s rivers

Source: https://theprint.in/environment/pharmaceuticals-have-polluted-almost-all-the-worlds-rivers-study-by-a-uk-university-finds/839291/

Author: Douglas Broom

A team of scientists from York University in the UK took over 1,000 water samples from 258 rivers in 104 countries and found that many contained concentrations of medicinal drugs that exceeded safe levels. The highest concentrations were found at Lahore, Pakistan; La Paz, Bolivia; and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The Kai Tak River in Hong Kong SAR had the greatest number of drugs present in a water sample, with 34 pharmaceuticals identified. Rivers in the Belgian capital Brussels, in Luxembourg and Dallas, Texas, were among the 20% of waterways with the highest concentration of drugs. Even in Antarctica, four types of pharmaceuticals were detected.