Plastic, fertilizers, and drugs are some of the many pollutants that can be found in rivers. They are not always visible. Visible, or actually felt, health problems that arise as a result of contact with the river contaminated with these impurities. What? We explain below.
- Plastic, under the influence of weather conditions, breaks down into small particles in water. Such microplastic is consumed by fish that end up on our plates, causing, among others, hormonal changes
- Agents used in agriculture often contain nitrogen and phosphorus compounds, which increase the risk of developing cancer
- One of the biggest plagues in rivers, however, is drugs, including antibiotics. Their presence in water bodies promotes drug resistance, i.e. the insensitivity of pathogens causing serious diseases to the effects of medicinal substances
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plastic
Probably everyone knows that plastic is the biggest scourge of water bodies – not only rivers, but also lakes, seas and oceans. Each year, nearly 14 million plastics are supplied to them. They are not only a huge threat to the continuity of the natural cycle of nature, including the life of marine flora and fauna, but also affect our health.
In water, plastics break down into small particles, the so-called microplastic. They eat them, among others fish that are later on sale and on our plates. These are not, of course, large amounts, but given the fact that many plastics contain carcinogens, any amount, even the smallest amount, is dangerous. Consuming products with their content may have an impact on our hormones, including those involved in metabolic, neurological and reproductive processes.
Fertilizers and other “side effects” of agricultural activities
Agriculture is considered to be the greatest source of river pollution worldwide. Millions of tonnes of wastewater from crops end up in inland waters. Of course, fertilizers are not introduced directly into water bodies. The chemicals used to grow plants, as well as pesticides and livestock faeces, travel there with the rainwater.
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These pollutants contain many chemicals that are toxic to humans. This includes nitrogen-containing compounds, which is especially dangerous for children and teenagers experiencing intensive development. Nitrates can block the ability of hemoglobin to transport oxygen (this results in methaemoglobinaemia), are also considered as one of the factors in the development of neoplastic diseases.
Nitrogen compounds react with the chlorine used for disinfection, and in this process substances with carcinogenic properties are formed. This is why wastewater treatment plants invest in the most modern infrastructure to reduce the amount of nutrients in treated wastewater, so that the water poisoned with nitrogen (as well as phosphorus) is not contaminated with water.
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Drugs that get into reservoirs, e.g. from nearby production plants, but also through use and improper disposal of this type of product.
Earlier this year, the “Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry” magazine published the results of a study on the pollution of rivers with pharmaceutical waste. Its authors, experts from the University of York in Great Britain, checked over a thousand locations, including 260 rivers, in 104 countries around the world, collecting water samples from reservoirs for testing for the presence of substances derived from drugs. They were detected in almost half (43,5%) of the places checked.
What was found in the rivers? Antidepressants, antibiotics, antihistamines, benzodiazepines, painkillers and more. The most common compounds and substances include: sulfamethoxazole, clarithromycin and enroflaxin (antibiotics), ciprofloxacin and metronidazole (used to treat infectious diseases), propranolol (a blood pressure lowering drug), metformin (for diabetes), carbamazepine (an anti-epileptic drug) and caffeine. More than a quarter of the samples from the rivers reached levels considered “hazardous to aquatic organisms”. What about the man?
The most dangerous effects are caused by the presence of antibiotics in rivers (their concentrations exceeded the norms in 19% of the tested samples), because it increases the risk of drug resistance, i.e. the insensitivity of pathogens to drugs aimed at counteracting them.
According to experts from the World Health Organization and the United Nations, antibiotic resistance is currently the greatest threat to humanity, which may become another pandemic.