The Almond River is named after a report detailing pharmaceuticals poisoning Scotland's waterways. This violates the contamination safe level for a single drug by more than 50,000 times.
According to data released by the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), pollution safety levels have been violated 2,300 times across the country in the last seven years.
This measure documents contamination with 26 drugs, including ibuprofen, estrogen, antibiotics, pain relievers, antidepressants, anesthetics, and caffeine.
Drugs end up in the sewer either by going to the toilet after taking them or by flushing them unused.
In the worst cases, recorded concentrations were hundreds or thousands of times higher than those considered safe.
Drug concentrations recorded in some samples were many times higher than the 'predicted no-effect concentration' (PNEC) for each drug.
Record levels of caffeine, used as a stimulant in some drugs such as paracetamol, was more than 50,000 times that of the Almond River.
Samples were collected from approximately 30 sewerage plants and other sites between 2013 and 2019.
Most of the ruptures were near the sewers across the Lothian River, and in Lanarkshire, Tayside, and Glasgow - named rivers include Almond, Glasgow's Clyde, Grampian's Don, Firth of Forth, Croatia. Includes Marty Bay and Tay Bay.
Viruses, bacteria, fungi and parasites also proliferate around medicinal contamination, posing risks to human health by helping diseases develop resistance to drugs.
Outbreaks of so-called 'superbugs' pose 'significant risks to humanity' - A study published in the medical journal The Lancet in January 2022 found that these treatment-resistant bugs are the major Found to be the cause of death worldwide - about 3500 people die every day.
A Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) spokesperson said: In collaboration with the Health Breakthrough Partnership (OHBP), we have played a key role in creating a new data visualization tool, published this June, to help researchers better understand the impact of medicines on the Scottish environment. rice field.
"The toilet is the primary pathway for human drugs to enter the aquatic environment.
"Part of this is due to the way our bodies metabolize drugs, The general public can mitigate this problem by taking old or unused medicines back to the pharmacy and disposing of them properly rather than flushing them away: putting them in the toilet, throwing them in the trash. 41}
“SEPA will work with OHBP and other UK and global partners to identify and prioritize the medicines posing the greatest risk to the water environment and to use such information.
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