This pond is so polluted it could be used as a pesticide
Every lake tested in the study was contaminated.
Source: Public domain
Europe's most polluted pond is so saturated with veterinary antibiotics, and chemicals that its water could likely be used a pesticide, according to new research from the University of Exeter.
Scientists took samples from 29 waterways in 10 European countries for their study. While every river and canal tested contained multiple pesticides, the most polluted waterway was found in a Belgian canal.
In it, researchers identified 38 different weed killers, 10 insecticides, 21 fungal killers, herbicides and traces of veterinary medication.
“There is huge uncertainty about what effects these mixtures of chemicals could have on wildlife and human health,” Dr. Jorge Casado, one of the authors of the study, said in a statement.
RELATED
“We know many of these individual pesticides are a cause for concern."
Dr. Casado told the Guardian the pollutants in the lake are so concentrated that the water itself would probably work as a pesticide.
“It’s incredible,” He told the publication.
Local Mayor Bart Dochy told the Guardian he was "shocked" by the study's results and will be ordering tests to find out where the pollutants come from, adding that although the water isn't safe to drink, he has seen fish swimming in the water seemingly unharmed.
The study analyzed samples taken from waterways in Austria, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, and the UK.
