Open AccessPharmaceutical pollution of the world’s rivers
Author(s) -
John Wilkinson,
Alistair B.A. Boxall,
Dana W. Kolpin,
Kenneth M.Y. Leung,
Racliffe Weng Seng Lai,
Cristóbal Galbán-Malagón,
Aiko D. Adell,
Julie Mondon,
Marc Métian,
Robert Marchant,
Alejandra Bouzas-Monroy,
Aida Cuní-Sanchez,
Anja Coors,
Pedro Carriquiriborde,
Macarena Rojo,
Chris Gordon,
Magdalena Cara,
Monique Moermond,
Thais Luarte,
Vahagn Petrosyan,
Yekaterina Perikhanyan,
Clare S. Mahon,
Christopher J McGurk,
Thilo Hofmann,
Tapos Kormoker,
Volga Iñiguez,
Jessica Guzman-Otazo,
Jean Leite Tavares,
Francisco Gildasio De Figueiredo,
María Tereza Pepe Razzolini,
Victorien Doug,
Gildas Gbaguidi,
Oumar Traoré,
Jules M. Blais,
Linda E. Kimpe,
Michelle Wong,
D. T. L. Wong,
Romaric Ntchantcho,
Jaime Pìzarro,
GuangGuo Ying,
Chang-Er Chen,
Martha Páez,
Jina Martínez-Lara,
JeanPaul Otamonga,
John Poté,
Suspense A. Ifo,
Penelope Wilson,
Silvia Echeverría-Sáenz,
Nikolina Udiković-Kolić,
Milena Milaković,
Despo FattaKassinos,
Lida IoannouTtofa,
Vladimíra Belušová,
Jan Vymazal,
María Cárdenas-Bustamante,
Bayable Atanfu,
Jeanne Garric,
Arnaud Chaumot,
Peter Gibba,
Ilia Kunchulia,
Sven Seidensticker,
Gérasimos Lyberatos,
Halldór Pálmar Halldórsson,
Molly Melling,
Shashidhar Thatikonda,
Manisha Lamba,
Anindrya Nastiti,
Adee Supriatin,
Nima Pourang,
Ali Abedini,
Omar Yassen Abdullah,
Salem Gharbia,
Francesco Pilla,
Benny Chefetz,
Tom Topaz,
Koffi Marcellin Yao,
Bakhyt Aubakirova,
Raikhan Beisenova,
Lydia Olaka,
Jemimah K Mulu,
Peter Chatanga,
Victor Ntuli,
Nathaniel T Blama,
Sheck Sherif,
Ahmad Zaharin Aris,
Ley Juen Looi,
Mahamoudane Niang,
Seydou T Traore,
Rik Oldenkamp,
Olatayo Michael Adetayo Ogunbanwo,
Muhammad Ashfaq,
Muhammad Khalid Iqbal,
Ziad Abdeen,
Aaron O’Dea,
Jorge Manuel MoralesSaldaña,
María Custodio,
Heidi De la Cruz,
Ian A. Navarrete,
Fábio Carvalho,
Alhaji Brima Gogra,
Braima Koroma,
Vesna Cerkvenik-Flajs,
Mitja Gombač,
Melusi Thwala,
Kyungho Choi,
Habyeong Kang,
John Leju Celestino Ladu,
Andreu Rico,
Priyanie H. Amerasinghe,
Anna Sobek,
Gisela Horlitz,
Armin Zenker,
Alex King,
Jheng-Jie Jiang,
Rebecca W. Kariuki,
Madaka Tumbo,
Ulaş Tezel,
Turgut T. Onay,
Julius Bunny Lejju,
Yuliya Vystavna,
Yuriy Vergeles,
Horácio Heinzen,
Andrés Pérez-Parada,
Douglas B. Sims,
Maritza Figy,
David A. Good,
Charles Teta
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.2113947119
Subject(s) - pollution , scale (ratio) , environmental science , geography , developing country , environmental protection , aquatic ecosystem , environmental health , environmental resource management , ecology , biology , cartography , medicine
Significance Despite growing evidence of the deleterious effects on ecological and human health, little is known regarding the global occurrence of pharmaceuticals in rivers. Studies assessing their occurrence are available for 75 of 196 countries, with most research conducted in North America and Western Europe. This leaves large geographical regions relatively unstudied. Here, we present the findings of a global reconnaissance of pharmaceutical pollution in rivers. The study monitored 1,052 sampling sites along 258 rivers in 104 countries of all continents, thus representing the pharmaceutical fingerprint of 471.4 million people. We show that the presence of these contaminants in surface water poses a threat to environmental and/or human health in more than a quarter of the studied locations globally.