A shocking new study from the University of York and Rivers Trust teams around the country reveals that England’s national parks are facing a hidden threat: pharmaceutical pollution.
The study found pharmaceuticals in river water at 52 out of 54 locations monitored across all ten National Parks in England. Some pharmaceuticals were found at levels of concern for the health of freshwater organisms and for humans who come into contact with the water. Some of the pharmaceuticals detected included: antidepressants, anticonvulsants, antimicrobials, anti-inflammatory substances, lipid regulators and diabetes treatments.
Biodiversity harm
Professor Alistair Boxall, from the University of York’s Department of Environment and Geography explained that most work on pharmaceutical pollution in the UK has focused on urban rivers. “This study is unique as it explores areas where we might expect low levels of pollution and we have shown that this is not the case.”
He explained: “Given the unique ecological value of these protected areas, our research highlights that the presence of these pharmaceuticals is concerning. Our national parks are true hotspots for biodiversity and essential for our physical health and mental wellbeing – so we need to act swiftly to protect these irreplaceable environments and ensure the health of wildlife and visitors alike.”
The study calls for a multi-pronged approach to address the problem. Professor Boxall is asking the government, local authorities and the water industry to work together to improve monitoring in national parks, for further investment in treatment technologies to protect rivers in the national parks, and a further exploration of the potential impact of pharmaceuticals on the health of park ecosystems.
Particularly vulnerable
Boxall added: “There are several reasons why these rivers are more polluted than you might expect, including lower dilution, lower connectivity to sewage treatment systems, older and less high-tech treatment of sewage, and seasonal population surges due to tourism. It is the fact that they come together in often remote and fragile places that make our national parks particularly vulnerable to this type of pollution. It is vital authorities work together to urgently tackle this issue.”
According to the study, pharmaceutical substances are most often released to the natural environment after a person has used the medicine (through their urine), but could end up there due to improper disposal of unused medicines.
Widespread pollution
The research focused on ten national parks, covering almost 10% of the land area in England. With a human population of around 320,000 permanent residents, these places provide a focus for recreation and tourism for around 90 million visitors each year. Samples were collected in duplicate from each sampling location in the winter and summer of 2022.
Pharmaceutical contamination was found to be widespread across the ten national parks. The greatest number of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) (27) were detected in the Peak District, with the fewest APIs (six) being detected in the Yorkshire Dales. The antihistamines cetirizine and fexofenadine, and the type two diabetes treatment, metformin, were detected in all national parks.
The most frequently detected APIs were caffeine, carbamazepine, metformin, fexofenadine and cetirizine which were detected at more than 60% of the sampling locations.
Results in Yorkshire
In the North York Moors National Park, there were nine locations which were monitored. Of these, pharmaceuticals were detected at all of the locations monitored. In the summer, contamination was seen at all locations, whereas in the winter only 44% of the locations were contaminated. The pharmaceutical seen at the highest concentration was the type 2 diabetes treatment metformin. The most contaminated site was on the River Esk at Glaisdale.
The Yorkshire Dales was one of the less polluted of the national parks that were monitored. However, even here, pharmaceuticals were detected at five of the six sites monitored in both the summer and the winter. The pharmaceutical seen at highest concentrations was the stimulant, caffeine – this was probably mainly from drinking tea, coffee and other high-caffeine drinks such as Red Bull. The most polluted location was at Devils Bridge on the River Lune.
Where does the pollution come from?
As patient usage is the major source of human-use APIs into the environment, previous monitoring efforts for APIs have tended to focus on urban settings and river systems receiving wastewater inputs from populous areas.
The English national parks are also characterised by an older population with ONS data from 2023 showing the median age in every national park (ranging from 49 years in the South Downs to 57 years in the Broads) being greater than in England as a whole (39 years). As the diversity and amount of prescribed medicines used increases with age (NHS, 2017), it might therefore be expected that national parks will have higher emission rates of APIs, per capita of population, compared to other areas of England.
National parks often have ‘low flow’ receiving water bodies. This means there’s less water to dilute the pollutants coming from wastewater treatment plants. As a result, the concentration of pharmaceuticals can be higher compared to rivers with a larger volume of water.
Wastewater treatment plants in national parks often have older or less sophisticated treatment technologies which are far less effective at removing pharmaceuticals from wastewater. Due to constraints on infrastructure, these places are also more likely to have septic tanks and other more basic water storage and treatment facilities.
A rise in antimicrobial resistance
Importantly, national parks also see huge seasonal fluctuations in population numbers, for example high volumes of tourists during peak seasons. This puts a strain on wastewater treatment infrastructure, potentially leading to increased levels of pharmaceutical discharge.
This means the potential impacts on human health should not be understated. The study finds that the occurrence of antimicrobials in these aquatic ecosystems is far above any safe level and could be increasing both local and global antimicrobial resistance.
The presence of APIs in surface waters in the English national parks could pose a threat to the health of rivers and the human population. Active pharmaceuticals are designed to be biologically active and target biochemical pathways and receptors in humans.
Prevention
Dr Rob Collins, director of policy and science at the Rivers Trust, highlights that there are several approaches that need to be taken to address the issue: “Whilst we need to see greater investment into traditional wastewater treatment, more natural treatment technologies such as wetlands can also play an important role, particularly in these more rural environments where there is the room to implement such nature-based solutions. It is also important that the maintenance and management of septic tanks is improved, and that new government rules on this are enforced.”
He added that “we, the public, can also play our part; few people are aware of medicine take back schemes whereby any unopened, unused and out-of-date medicines, can be taken to the local pharmacy, rather than flushed down the toilet and into the sewer system”.
The report highlights the need for more monitoring and control, “Moving forward we need more thorough regulatory monitoring and tighter control of wastewater emissions in National Parks in England, the UK and more widely to reduce levels of contamination to safe levels so that we can continue to enjoy the benefits of these areas and protect biodiversity into the future”. Additionally, it called upon more “roll out” of more natural treatment technologies such as flood prevention, improved aesthetics, increased biodiversity and habitat formation to provide other benefits to the parks.
Jayne Butler, executive director of National Parks England, told Yorkshire Bylines:
“National Parks represent our finest landscapes and hold special designations. Healthy rivers are vital for both people and for nature. We have seen the new government announce a range of measures to tackle water pollution and that is promising and urgently needed – the pollution of our waterways must stop. However, we also need to see more funding made available to ensure that within protected landscapes we can implement nature-based solutions to tackle existing pollution, like peatland restoration and river buffer zones that will also provide natural flood management and mitigate other impacts of climate change.”
More from Brian McHugh
