How do drugs poison city rivers?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The British media published shocking results of chemical studies that revealed a serious concentration of cocaine in the Thames. Changes in the composition of water are already actively affecting the behavior of river inhabitants. Meanwhile, scientists have been talking about the penetration of drugs and their constituents into waters, soil, flora and fauna for several years. What environmental disasters can an unbridled human thirst for pleasure lead to?

Dope island

Today, chemists and biologists from around the world are making predictions about how nature and the diversity of its inhabitants may change due to environmental pollution by drugs. As part of one of these studies, specialists from King's College London analyzed wastewater samples during periods of heavy rainfall.

The hyperactivity of eels, those still found in the Thames, was a consequence of the presence of cocaine in the main river of London.

Scientists measured the amount of drugs in the water for 24 hours. It is noteworthy that the time of day had almost no effect on the concentration of prohibited drugs. In other words, London, like most megacities, never sleeps, and drug addicts along with it, chemists conclude. Substances in wastewater get along with their urine, scientists say.

Treatment facilities are able to filter water and reduce the concentration of drugs in the sewer, but during heavy rainfall, part of the untreated water inevitably enters the main waterway of the British capital, which is the reason for the increased level of drug addiction in the Thames.

Eel indicator

Even during last year's research, scientists have identified a link between the hyperactive behavior of eels and the presence of drugs in the water. Biochemists believe that fish are much more susceptible to drugs than humans. Colleagues of the British from the Frederick II University of Naples previously observed this species of fish in water with a small content of cocaine - it turned out that eels began not only to behave more actively, the substance accumulated in their brain, muscles, gills and skin, writes the Independent.

It is worth clarifying that the Italians nevertheless used in their experiment a significantly larger amount of cocaine than that found in the British river.

However, one cannot discount one more source of fish excitement, scientists say, - caffeine, the concentration of which in waste water was simply prohibitive.

By the way, the eel in the Thames is on the verge of extinction.

Nevertheless, it is not caffeine that poses the main threat to bioorganisms, but drugs of the so-called group A. According to the British classification of drugs and potent drugs, group A, which represents the greatest danger to human health, includes heroin, cocaine, methadone, LSD, a number of and other "hard" drugs.

London has gained a notorious reputation for drug trafficking in the past few years. According to the independent research center Global Drag Survey, the development of instant messengers and other anonymous means of communication has reduced the time it takes to deliver drugs and drugs to their addressees more than ever before in UK history. The experts stated that the delivery of cocaine in London is faster than the delivery of pizza.

In addition to the extinction of eels, environmentalists are also concerned about the state of human health. The first time they started talking about traces of drugs in a London water supply was five years ago. Then the researchers assured the public that the presence is negligible and does not pose a threat. And nevertheless, the examination became a reason to think about the consumption of cocaine in the kingdom. According to statistics for 2014, 180 thousand people took the drug every day, another 700 thousand did it from time to time. Traces were found on all the banknotes examined, in the toilet cubicles of the House of Commons and in most educational institutions.

If only the Thames

Cocaine is actively supplied to Europe and Asia by dealers from Central and South America. Colombia has become the leader in the production of an elite drug, the volume of supplies of which in 2016 peaked at 1,410 tons, according to a report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. It is curious that the demand for the drug has noticeably increased in the countries of Asia and Africa. It is the frenzied growth of the production of all types of drugs that is the hallmark of our time. Thousands of volumes of potent substances cannot disappear without a trace on the planet, even after passing as a filter through human kidneys and liver.

London researchers have clearly demonstrated the correctness of their colleagues from the University of South Africa (Unisa), who conducted a series of experiments in the summer of 2017. Chemists found traces of heroin, cocaine, other drugs, synthetic psychotropic drugs, hormones and antibiotics in wastewater at a wastewater treatment plant in Gauteng province (a province in South Africa), pravda.ru writes.

They found that the contaminated water entered the river system from slaughterhouses, hospitals, small communities, factories, fish and agricultural farms, and then into wastewater treatment plants.

Water purification technology today does not provide for filtration from such substances. Scientists linked the deterioration of the health of the local population to this.

The worst thing is that this is not some unique case. The mentioned experiment is a continuation of another experience of scientists, this time in Pretoria (South Africa). Scientists found traces of the same drugs at a sewage treatment plant in New York. And in Washington, D. C., researchers even observed an increase in the concentration of amphetamine in wastewater off campus - it coincided with the start of the session. There are other studies that have documented the presence of drugs at wastewater treatment plants in Europe. In particular, traces of cocaine were found in one of the Swiss rivers flowing through expensive ski resorts.

The biggest challenge in dealing with drug water pollution is finding an efficient way to purify water in such a huge amount to supply big cities. A number of scientists believe that the development of such technologies and research into the problem are simply not of interest to governments and businesses due to their high cost.

By the way, scientists plan to continue a global study of traces of the presence of drugs and other substances in human life. Next in line are toothpaste, soap, deodorants, building materials and household chemicals.

In Russia, scandals involving the discovery of traces of drugs in water pipes, as well as in sewage, are rare.

Perhaps the loudest incident of this kind happened in Yekaterinburg in the spring of 2014.

Then the specialists of the Vodokanal Municipal Unitary Enterprise established that the narcotic drug trichlorethylene was present in the chemical composition of tap water in the Staraya Sortirovka microdistrict. However, in this case, the researchers were inclined to believe that the substance could have entered the water supply as a result of the accident.

In 2017, the volume of opium production increased by 65% (up to 10,500 tons). For example: this is slightly more than the weight of the Eiffel Tower with a concrete base. Such a "breakthrough" is associated with the growth of the cultivation of opium poppy in Afghanistan - according to experts, the country produces about 90% of this type of drug on Earth. In fact, no one bothers the planters to grow poppy in the beds for the purpose of marketing. However, traditional drugs have emerged competing with significant black market areas - psychoactive substances and prescription drugs.