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- Ελληνικά
Cyprus[/B] is one of the countries with the lowest concentrations of pharmaceuticals, according to a global survey that examined the presence of 61 pharmaceuticals in 258 rivers in 104 countries. The survey concluded that in more than a quarter of the rivers examined, concentrations of such compounds are at potentially toxic levels.
According to a statement from the University of Cyprus, the survey included more than half of the world's countries, noting that rivers in 36 countries had never been tested for pharmaceuticals before. The survey was coordinated by the University of York, England, as part of the Global Monitoring of Pharmaceuticals Project, namely Professor Dr Alistair Boxall and Dr John Wilkinson and, on the Cyprus side, the University of Cyprus International Water Research Centre Nereus participated in the survey, with Professor of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Director of Nereus Dr Despo Fatta-Kassinou and Dr Lida Ioannou-Ttofa (then Postdoctoral Associate of Nereus and now Health Engineer of the Department of Water Development).
Samples were taken from rivers such as the Amazon, Mississippi, Thames, and Mekong. From rivers in villages such as Yanomami village in Venezuela, where modern pharmaceuticals are not used, and from populous cities such as New Delhi, London, New York, Lagos, and Guangzhou. The study also included rivers from areas of political instability such as Baghdad, the West Bank and Yaoundé in Cameroon and from high-altitude alpine tundra regions in Colorado, polar regions in Antarctica, etc.
As Dr. Fatta-Kasinou reports, some of the major findings are that river pollution with pharmaceuticals extends across continents.
Also, the pharmaceutical compounds carbamazepine (antiepileptic) and metformin (antidiabetic) were the most frequently detected compounds.
There is also a strong correlation in general between the socioeconomic level of a country and relative pollution: the lower the level, the higher the level of pollution. There are, however, countries that show a different picture.
It should be noted that the only areas that did not show any concentrations of the pharmaceuticals tested are Iceland and the village of Yanomami in the Venezuelan Amazon.
In the countries with the highest levels of pollution, it is not common to investigate the presence of such compounds in natural surface waters (for example, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and parts of southern Asia).
Higher concentrations were found in areas in Pakistan (Lahore), Bolivia (La Paz) and Ethiopia (Addis Ababa).
Human activities most associated with high pollution levels include the presence of garbage dumps along rivers, inadequate urban wastewater collection infrastructure and/or the absence of sewage systems, industrial activity in the production of pharmaceuticals, and the discharge of septic tank/pit contents directly into rivers.
A quarter of the sites examined show levels of concentrations of substances such as, sulfamethoxazole, propranolol, ciprofloxacin and loratadine, potentially toxic.
According to Dr. Fatta-Kasinou, monitoring the presence of pharmaceutical substances in the environment can contribute to the development of strategies and policies aimed at reducing them, as well as mitigating the consequent associated impacts on both the environment and human health.
As Dr. Ioannou Tofa states, in the case of Cyprus, the inclusion of the Kargotis River in the study was chosen following the collection and processing of data available to the Hydrometry Service of the Water Development Department of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment regarding the few water bodies on the island that have a continuous flow on an annual basis. The Kargotis River originates from the north-eastern slopes of the Troodos peak and flows into the occupied Gulf of Morphou and is 24 750 metres long. In particular, samples were taken from points of the river and its tributaries, which are located on the boundaries of the municipalities of Kakopetria and Galata. The exact sampling points were selected taking into account the human activities that take place adjacent to the river such as farming activities, fish farming and the existence of septic tanks.
It is worth noting that the results of the study rank Cyprus among the countries with the lowest concentrations of the compounds under consideration, as the total concentration in the samples taken ranged in concentrations < 200 ng/L.
It is worth noting that the results of the study rank Cyprus among the countries with the lowest concentrations of the compounds under consideration, as the total concentration in the samples taken ranged in concentrations < 200 ng/L.
It is worth noting that the results of the study rank Cyprus among the countries with the lowest concentrations of the compounds under consideration, as the total concentration in the samples taken ranged in concentrations < 200 ng/L.
The study, which was published in the international journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Science) under the title "Pharmaceutical Pollution of the World's Rivers", involved 127 researchers from 85 organisations and is an excellent example of how the international scientific community can work together to tackle large-scale environmental problems.
Source: CNA
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