London (Parliament Politics Magazine) – Researchers discovered that 61% of fresh waters in the UK possess high levels of phosphate and nitrate.
The UK’s rivers hold a cocktail of chemicals and stimulants including caffeine, antidepressants and painkillers from water company sewage discharges, contaminating fresh water at levels which can pose a danger to aquatic life, testing has found. “Our rivers have been historically stressed by farming and are being pushed to the brink by outdated and inadequate sewage treatment works,” Earthwatch stated.
What are the main pollutants affecting UK rivers?
Outcomes from three days of testing in rivers by 4,531 recruits for the environmental research group Earthwatch revealed that, in addition to the chemical compound in rivers, 61% of fresh waters in the UK were wretched because of high levels of the nutrients phosphate and nitrate, the origin of which is sewage effluent and agricultural runoff. England had the most harmful level of poor water quality in rivers, with 67% of freshwater samples demonstrating high levels of nitrate and phosphate.
Earthwatch sampled rivers over three days in September, collecting 2,338 datasets which were tested for high grades of phosphates and nitrates. Ninety-one samples were sent for additional testing for the existence of chemicals by Imperial College London. This experiment, which is continuing, reveals rivers are being subjected to toxic contaminants including nicotine, caffeine, antidepressants, antibiotics and painkillers such as tramadol and diclofenac. The main basis of these contaminants is sewage from water business treatment works, expressed Sasha Woods, head of policy at Earthwatch.
What steps are needed to improve wastewater treatment?
Earthwatch expressed there was a pressing need for progress in wastewater treatment processes and declines in agriculture and urban runoff to diminish threats to vulnerable freshwater systems and species.
“The wretched state of many waterbodies in the UK is down to a complicated and interconnected range of corrosion sources: sewage discharge, agriculture and urban runoff,” their report stated. The Earthwatch proof of the poor state of UK rivers comes after data from the Environment Agency revealed a dramatic decline in Atlantic salmon stocks in England and Wales. Salmon are an indicator species, and their rapid descent is considered a warning signal that the natural environment is under extreme pressure.