Researchers find "staggering" array of medicines and pesticides in south coast waters

Waters off the coasts of Hampshire and West Sussex contain “high levels of potentially harmful chemicals” including a "staggering list" of prescription drugs according to findings from a current study.

Researchers from University of Portsmouth and Brunel University London have so far detected more than 50 compounds at 22 sites. These include pharmaceuticals and recreational drugs such as cocaine and agricultural pesticides including the herbicide, simazine, fungicides, propamocarb and imidacloprid and a substance banned in the UK, the insecticide clothianidin.

The University of Portsmouth’s Professor Alex Ford said there was a “staggering list” of prescription drugs that are either excreted or thrown away and enter watercourses via wastewater treatment.

“We have found a large variety of prescribed and illegal drugs plus a variety of pesticides in coastal waters and marine organisms, such as crabs and oysters.” He added: “We know that aquatic ecosystems are under threat from pharmaceuticals and farming practices such as biocides and fertilisers.”

Ford’s earlier research showed that even at very low levels, antidepressants in water can change the behaviour and reproduction of crustaceans including crabs and molluscs which include oysters. “The release of human pharmaceuticals into aquatic ecosystems is an environmental problem we should consider seriously,” he warned.

The scientists will now compare the concentrations of pollutants, found in their study of waters around Chichester and Langstone harbours during last year’s drought, to those taken at the same sewage discharge locations after combined sewer overflow discharges had been activated by rainfall.